Afrigather A wrap-up of TechCabal’s protection of the southern Africa tech ecosystem.
As a pan-African know-how publication, TechCabal prides itself on providing protection of the continent’s tech ecosystem past its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. On this end-of-year wrap, our Southern Africa correspondent, Ephraim Modise, appears to be like again on the tales that made 2023 within the areas and the way we coated them.
This yr, the area noticed some hits as quite a few funds had been launched to assist innovators, startups constructed merchandise which addressed a few of the area’s most pertinent socio-economic challenges, and regulators launched frameworks which drove improvements. Nonetheless, there have been additionally a number of misses as cybercrime and on-line scams ran wild, layoffs and closures rocked the area, and C-Suite executives made some questionable enterprise choices.
Learn on to get a broader view of our protection of the southern Africa area and the way we stayed on prime of all these tales and way more!
Launch of funds
All through 2023, a number of funds had been launched to drive tech innovation within the area. These included the Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund, the Sasol greentech startups fund, the SA SME Fund, and Knife Capital’s $50 million Collection A fund.
A number of startups within the area additionally raised a major quantity of funds amid a world fundraising crunch. These included Planet42’s mega $100 million Collection A spherical, Naked Insurance’s $17 million Collection B, TymeBank’s $77 million pre-Collection C, and Stitch’s $25 million Collection A.
Startups fixing urgent points
This yr, TechCabal additionally coated startups and tech firms within the area that are fixing pertinent issues of their respective markets. These included healthcare startups in South Africa, Whatsapp chatbot startups within the area, how startups are tackling South Africa’s cybercrime epidemic, in addition to agritech, edtech, and mobility startups constructing options to handle the area’s power supply issues.
Ecosystem explorations
Staying true to its mission to supply full protection of the pan-African tech ecosystem, TechCabal additionally explored different ecosystems within the southern African area outdoors South Africa. From Zambia’s emergence as a power within the record of pre-emerging ecosystems to Madagascar’s bid to make its title recognized within the African tech ecosystem, to Namibia’s mission to handle the problems plaguing its ecosystem, our protection supplied readers with insights into what is going on in tech on the continent past the “Large 4.”
Past ecosystem explorations, our protection additionally delved deep into ecosystem actions which are positioning know-how as the driving force of socio-economic progress. This protection included how South Africa continues to steer the continent within the race for data centre dominance, how short-term loans by telcos are driving monetary inclusion in Botswana, how Zambia’s national debt restructuring will assist develop its tech ecosystem, how WomHub is building an accelerator for women founders, and the way the University of Cape Town produces the most startup CEOs on the continent.
We additionally spoke to a number of buyers who’re betting on the area’s innovators. These included Keet van Zyl of Knife Capital, Andile Ngcaba of Convergence Companions, Brenton Naicker of CV-VC, Francois Malan of Savant, Amina Patterson of Solve4X in addition to Palesa Tabai of I’M IN Accelerator.
Different hits
TechCabal additionally coated quite a few different areas of tech in southern Africa together with the launch of PayShap in South Africa, Amazon’s launch in South Africa, how the area’s startups proceed to lead exits on the continent, how private equity firms are coming to the rescue in the course of the VC crunch, Innovation Collective’s mission to foster inclusion for Cape City’s underprivileged founders, how Union54 made a comeback from an nearly crippling chargeback fraud debacle, and the way associations are attempting to spearhead fintech progress in Botswana and South Africa.
Layoffs and closures
As with the remainder of the world, southern Africa’s area was hit with macroeconomic challenges which compelled a number of startups, tech firms, and different ecosystem gamers to scale down or fully stop operations. Crypto change Luno cut 35% of its staff, WhereIsMyTransport shut down whereas Naspers needed to let go of 30% of its headcount. Nonetheless on Naspers, the corporate additionally shut down its Naspers Foundry fund which had invested in 12 startups.
Cybersecurity and on-line scams had a discipline day
‘Twas the yr that hackers and on-line scammers claimed victims nearly with impunity within the area. In South Africa, hackers hit a few of the nation’s most well-known manufacturers together with Showmax, Shoprite, DisChem, Liberty Insurance coverage, TransUnion, and even authorities departments. In Botswana, online scams had a field day, costing victims tens of millions of pulas whereas in Lesotho, the nation’s central financial institution was hit with a safety breach. Zimbabwe’s promising AI startup additionally saw a security breach which threatened its existence.
Shoddy company governance
Past startup challenges, TechCabal’s protection of the area additionally touched on greater tech firms whose lacklustre governance continues to erode shareholder worth. We coated MultiChoice’s seemingly endless struggles together with plummeting share price, written-off losses on Kingmakers, inglorious exit from Malawi in addition to Canal+’s seemingly looming takeover of the broadcaster.
We additionally coated the drama of the love triangle between MTN, Telkom and Rain, MTN passing load shedding costs to clients, the dramatic exit of Naspers’ CEO Bob van Djik, the greylisting of South Africa by the Monetary Motion Activity Pressure (FATF), Botswana’s microfinancier Letshego’s declining profits, in addition to Starlink’s struggles with regulators in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Different misses
Different no-so-good ecosystem happenings that we coated included how a so-called Facebook rapist escaped from jail in South Africa, the development of failing incubators and accelerators within the area, startups exiting too early as they fail to boost follow-on capital, the area’s scarcity of technical expertise, internet disruptions in Zimbabwe throughout elections, complaints towards InDrive operators in Botswana, why CEOs within the area struggle to raise capital, in addition to South Africa’s mission to introduce stringent tax requirements for remote workers.
What to anticipate in 2024 in southern Africa tech
With 2023 within the rearview mirror, we introduced you protection which saved you abreast of every part tech within the Southern Africa area and, in 2024, we’ll do much more. Keep tuned as we regulate whether or not Zambia’s plunging foreign money will wipe off the expansion of its tech ecosystem, whether or not Batswana will proceed to fall sufferer to on-line scams, if South Africa will reclaim its spot because the VC vacation spot of the continent, whether or not Namibia will efficiently deal with its ecosystem challenges, how Zimbabwe will speed up the expansion of its startup scene and way more!
