Author: Insider Editor

Verve has crossed a major milestone with the issuance of 100 million payment cards, a landmark that underscores its growing influence in Africa’s rapidly expanding digital payments landscape. While the figure itself is impressive, it also reflects a broader transformation underway across the continent: rising trust in digital transactions, deeper financial inclusion, and a growing reliance on homegrown technology built to serve local realities. What started as a domestic payment option has steadily grown into one of the most widely used card brands in Nigeria and several other African markets, including Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Benin Republic, and The Gambia. Today,…

As Africa and the Middle East race deeper into the digital economy, one need has become impossible to ignore: dependable KYC and KYB infrastructure. From fintech apps and digital banks to mobility platforms and marketplaces, every digital product now lives or dies by how quickly and accurately it can verify people and businesses, and how well it meets tightening regulatory demands. But verification across the region is still riddled with problems. Onboarding remains slow, costly, and fragmented. Many individuals abandon sign-up when identity checks fail or repeatedly request documents that systems can’t validate. For SMEs, weak KYB frameworks create even…

Paramount Africa will officially shut down at the end of December 2025, bringing an end to more than two decades of broadcasting across South Africa, Nigeria, and the wider continent. The company whose channels once reached over 100 million viewers in 52 African territories confirmed that the closure is part of sweeping global restructuring efforts by its parent company, Paramount Global. For years, Paramount Africa served as the home of iconic brands like BET, MTV, MTV Base, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and others. Beyond television, the company built a powerful digital presence, recording millions of monthly page views, high social engagement,…

Gigmile, the company behind one of Africa’s fastest-growing mobility financing platforms for gig workers, has released its 2025 Impact Report, a detailed look at its economic, social, and sustainability footprint across Nigeria and Ghana. The report comes on the heels of the startup’s recently completed Seed round in Q3 2025, led by a follow-on investment from ENZA Capital, alongside Seedstars International Ventures and the Norrsken Africa Fund. Founded in 2022 by former Jumia Country Managers Kayode Adeyinka and Samuel Esiri, Gigmile has evolved in just four years from an ambitious idea into a lifeline for thousands of underserved workers. By…

FATE Foundation and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) will integrate an advanced AI curriculum into Nigerian universities to strengthen the country’s technical talent pipeline. At the same time, the African Technology Forum (ATF) is set to launch an innovation challenge that will support developers in building real-world AI solutions. On the digital safety side, Junior Achievement Africa will broaden its online safety curriculum for young people, while the CyberSafe Foundation will focus on improving cybersecurity capacity across public institutions. According to the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, the initiative comes at a pivotal moment…

Fusepay, a Seychelles-founded fintech building payment tools for frontier markets, has launched a digital payment platform designed to help businesses in the East African island nation streamline their finances and move away from slow, paper-heavy processes. The launch comes on the heels of a $350,000 pre-seed round raised in August, led by Hustle Fund with participation from Everywhere Ventures, First Check Ventures, Startup Istanbul, and angel investor Ryan Nesbitt. Business payments in Seychelles are still largely driven by cheques and manual workflows, creating delays, reconciliation issues, and inefficiencies. As part of its broader digital governance agenda, the Central Bank of…

One of Africa’s foremost fintech infrastructure and Banking-as-a-Service providers Qore, held the third edition of its flagship conference, Nexus 2025, on November 20 at Jewel Aeida in Lagos. The gathering underscored Qore’s growing reputation as a trusted partner delivering secure, scalable and compliant digital banking infrastructure for financial institutions across the continent. Centred on the theme “Infrastructure for Prosperity: Building the Rails for Africa’s Credit Revolution,” Nexus 2025 convened leaders from commercial and microfinance banks, fintech innovators, regulators, technology partners and key ecosystem players. The conference examined how modern infrastructure, stronger credit systems and deeper collaboration can drive economic growth…

A business landscape where success is often defined by flashy funding rounds and inflated valuations, Payaza Africa’s latest milestone offers a more grounded and meaningful measure of progress. Global Credit Ratings (GCR), a Moody’s affiliate, has upgraded the company’s long-term credit rating from BBB to BBB, reinforcing its investment-grade status and boosting its credibility among both local and international investors. At first glance, a single-notch upgrade may appear incremental. But in the cautious world of credit rating agencies, it represents something much deeper. It signals proven performance, disciplined management, and financial resilience, qualities that matter far more than hype. For…

An Africa-focused seed-stage fund Chui Ventures, has raised $17.3 million for its debut fund, comfortably exceeding its $10 million target. The achievement places Chui among a small group of African venture firms, including Launch Africa and Ventures Platform, that have closed oversubscribed first funds. The fund attracted a diverse mix of foundations, family offices, and more than 30 high-net-worth individuals, including the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Over 90% of its HNW backers are of African origin, and 60% are African female executives. “Our vision at Chui is simple but powerful: For Africa,…

Safaricom is doubling down on its mobile money platform, M-PESA, as digital payments increasingly move from consumer apps to business-run backend systems. About 25% of all M-PESA transactions now flow through application programming interfaces (APIs), highlighting how deeply businesses have integrated the platform into payments, credit, logistics, and public services, according to Esther Waititu, Safaricom’s Chief Financial Services Officer. To support this shift, Daraja, the payments portal that developers use to connect M-PESA to their systems, has been fully upgraded to version 3.0. The overhaul, announced in March, is designed for faster rollouts and smoother onboarding a response to years…