Nigeria’s Autochek, an auto-tech company making car ownership more accessible and affordable across Africa, has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Egypt’s AutoTager to deepen its presence in North Africa and support the company’s ongoing growth.
Nigerian startup Alajo is an escrowed digital piggy bank for the under- and un-banked, which allows people to access financial services without the need for internet access. Founded in 2021, Alajo helps people to save money using USSD, IVR and SMS through PoS and money agents in their communities, delivered via a savings infrastructure on a Mobile App.
Venture capital activity around climate tech has been heating up in Africa despite the global VC funding cooldown. The continent’s climate tech startups secured over $860 million in equity funding, largely driven by clean energy technologies, representing 3.5x growth amid macroeconomic headwinds last year, data shows, making climate Africa’s most funded sector after fintech.
Martech keeps taking larger bites out of marketing budgets: 17.3% last year, 19.9% this year, 23.5% next year, and 30.9% five years from now, according to the latest CMO Survey. This despite barely more than half (56.4%) of current tools being used and nearly half (48.8%) of the survey respondents reporting worse-than-expected results. Oddly enough, marketers rate selecting marketing technologies as the thing they do best.