Muktar Oladunmade

Vatar Inc., the company behind the viral Nigerian browser game Lagos Life, has closed a $500,000 pre-seed round at a $10 million valuation three days after incorporation, according to a company statement.

Themed “Be The Moment,” the December festival builds on a successful debut that attracted over 5,000 attendees and 26 participating brands, bringing together customer appreciation, brand experiences, rewards and live entertainment.

Six African investors explain what makes African AI startups fundable: local-language voice products, sticky software, licences and revenue.

Cascador and Sterling Bank have set up a $200 million fund to help Nigerian startups get bank loans by sharing the risk of borrowers defaulting.

Six years after Stripe's historic acquisition, Paystack is pivoting from moving money to keeping deposits to survive currency devaluations.

Five35 Ventures says selling its stake in Complete Farmer returned 3.5 times its money, an internal rate of return of 38% over four years.

Flutterwave employees can now borrow money with their shares and keep them, as the $3.25 billion fintech begins to offer loans to its entire workforce.

DPI has closed its $112M Nclude Fund with 93% African capital. Head of DPI VC Ashley Lewis breaks down how they raised it without foreign DFIs.

Moniepoint, the Nigerian financial services company, is restructuring its engineering and product teams, with some roles set to become redundant. The company is offering affected employees a voluntary exit package and plans to complete the process by the end of December, according to two employees with direct knowledge of the matter.

Madica, the pre-seed investment programme backed by US venture firm Flourish Ventures, has received $6 million in fresh capital from Flourish to back 25 to 30 more African startups over the next three years.