By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The chief executive of a popular mobility platform in Angola, Anda, Mr Sergio Tati, has lamented the poor digital literacy in the country, noting that many residents of the Southern African nation do not have access to the internet.

Speaking with CNN’s Ms Zain Asher on her Marketplace Africa show, Mr Tati said “smartphone penetration in Angola is extremely low.”

On this episode of Marketplace Africa, CNN explored how a budding startup ecosystem is driving a digital revolution in the country.

“A really unique challenge to Angola is the lack of digital literacy. So, that’s quite specific to our context compared to let’s say in Nigeria, where you have many more people who have access to smartphones.

“Sadly, the smartphone penetration rate in Angola is extremely low. You don’t have a lot of internet cafes that people can go to and get access to the Internet, so that’s definitely something that has stifled innovation in Angola a little bit,” Mr Tati said on the show.

The company originally began as a ridesharing platform, but Mr Tati said, “The focus has entirely shifted towards the asset financing piece of the business because that’s what we realised was the biggest problem.

“Now, we’re going way deeper into the FinTech part of the business. And as well, really focusing on the microcredit, mobile money payments, and everything that we can now do, thanks to the fact that we’ve solved this broader and the bigger credit problem that was getting access to the assets in the first place.”

As startups like his continue to grow, Mr Tati disclosed that support from Angola’s National Institute INAPEM has been vital.

INAPEM was created to help sponsor and connect entrepreneurs with regulators and government ministries.

“The Angola startup ecosystem is emerging. In the last few years, we as a state have paid more attention for the needs to organise all the key players that are operating and contribute as well for the reinforcement of our ecosystem,” an Executive Director at INAPEM, Braulio Augusto, noted.

“We have a lot of opportunities across the continent, where we have a lot to learn from other top ecosystems in our continent, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and others. And we need to be more open to speak with them, share our experience as well, local experience. But also getting from them and see how we can partner more intra-African.

African ecosystems need to be more integrated, need to cooperate more between them, and see in each other more complementary solutions rather than competitive solutions,” the executive director added.

INAPEM has registered approximately 345 tech startups in recent years, including food delivery company, Mamboo, which has Kae Carvalho as the Chief Operating Officer (COO).

“We are contributing to the ecosystem growth and so it’s more jobs that we are creating in the economy. But I think it will be easier and faster, the development, if we have initiatives that promote and support discussions. We can do a lot of things. We just need a little push sometimes,” Carvalho stated.

Another tech firm doing well in Angola is Appy Saúde, the largest online pharmacy network in the country, which is opening up health and medical access to an entirely new population.

The chief executive of the firm, Pedro Beirão, explained that the company started as a way for people to find information about medical services and products.

“We were worried about how information access was just so restrained. So, we really wanted to make it available for everyone. So, information is free for people,” Beirão disclosed.

“And now they’re able to purchase the product and get it delivered. So, the whole idea is really to empower people to use technology and to take a step further into having access to services that were 10, 15 years ago unavailable to them,” Beirão added.

Looking to the future, Beirão said, “We want to be the company in Angola that will be known for creating the highest impact in people’s lives. We would like to reach ten plus million people in health care, education.

“We want to be in different African countries. We want to be an Angolan company conquering the African region, not only Angola, and take that flag with us.”

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Glovo, a leading technological platform connecting customers, businesses, and riders and offering multicategory on-demand services, has kept a slot for a lucky Nigerian start-up founder for its prestigious 2025 Glovo Startup Campus taking place in October in Barcelona, Spain.

The slot for Nigeria will be chosen by the organisers of GITEX Nigeria Tech Expo and Future Economy Summit.

This has been made possible through a strategic partnership arrangement between Glovo and GITEX Nigeria.

The Glovo Startup Campus is an annual programme by Glovo that brings tech startups from key markets to its headquarters in Barcelona for intensive mentoring, networking, and knowledge-sharing sessions focused on scaling their solutions for greater impact.

Every year, participants are selected through a local startup competition, and the winner gets to represent their country at the Glovo Startup Campus in Spain.

Last year, the programme hosted 21 people from 16 startups, representing 4 countries. Their participation allowed them to access 20 mentors, some of whom are Vice Presidents and board directors of blue-chip companies.

During the event, participants had a one-on-one session with Impact Hub to discuss individual check-in point and action plans. 3 Venture Capitalists were on ground to witness pitch ideas from techpreneurs, while 3 guest speakers also took part in a roundtable discussion.

For the first time, Glovo is extending the programme to Nigeria to enable a startup owner from Nigeria to participate.

The General Manager for Glovo Nigeria, Ms Lamide Akinola, explained that the decision to enlist a Nigerian participant for the programme reflects the company’s commitment to nurturing entrepreneurial ecosystems in the country.

The programme offers promising startups exposure to global best practices, mentorship from industry leaders, and the opportunity to plug into an international innovation network.

She also noted that the partnership with GITEX Nigeria underscores the organisation’s commitment to spotlighting the continent’s rapidly evolving tech ecosystem and positioning Africa not just as a growth market but as a driver of global innovation.

According to her, the 2025 Startup Festival offers the opportunity to exchange ideas on digital inclusion, sustainable urban logistics, and how platform businesses can fuel local economic development.

“It’s exciting to see many entrepreneurs, investors, and tech leaders come together to co-create solutions to uniquely African challenges. I’m particularly eager to explore partnerships and policy frameworks that can unlock the next wave of e-commerce potential in Nigeria and beyond,” she said.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Payment orchestration platform, HoneyCoin, has announced a $4.9 million funding round led by the global venture firm, Flourish Ventures, to boost its operations.

Flourish is joined by a dynamic mix of regional and global investors, including Visa Ventures, TLcom Capital, Stellar Development Foundation, Lava, Musha Ventures, 4DX Ventures, and Antler.

According to a statement, the new capital will accelerate the scale of operations, expand its product suite, and bring on new senior hires to strengthen its position as a prominent player in the payments industry.

Mr David Nandwa, who became one of Africa’s youngest fintech CEOs at the age of 19, launched HoneyCoin in 2020, during the pandemic.

With HoneyCoin, he and his team have set out to develop the financial operating system for a hybrid future, where fiat and blockchain infrastructure merge to enable faster, compliant, and cost-efficient cross-border money movement.

Since its launch, the platform claims it has scaled rapidly, processing hundreds of dollars in transactions to over $150 million in monthly transaction volume, serving more than 350 enterprise customers and hundreds of thousands of consumers through its flagship consumer app, Peer. Collectively, it powers payments for millions of end-users across four continents.

Mr Nandwa said, “Our mission is to build the operating system for money, how it’s moved, held, and collected, regardless of medium or geography.

“Just as Apple redefined computing and Visa transformed global commerce, we believe financial infrastructure is undergoing another once-in-a-generation shift.

“This raise enables us to lead that transformation, across Africa and other global markets, by building resilient, interoperable infrastructure for the future of finance.”

HoneyCoin says it addresses long-standing inefficiencies in global financial infrastructure, particularly for businesses in frontier markets, by providing a unified, stablecoin-compatible platform for collections, treasury management, settlements, and FX management.

By building a stablecoin-based liquidity engine and bypassing fragmented rails, HoneyCoin offers businesses instant or same-day settlements, compared to the traditional 4–7 business day timelines.

Flourish Ventures, which first backed HoneyCoin in 2021, co-led the latest fundraise as a follow-on investment, signaling strong confidence in the startup and underscoring its long-term commitment to building fairer financial systems across Africa.

Speaking on the investment, Flourish Ventures Principal, Mr Efayomi Carr, said, “We first backed HoneyCoin in 2021 based on David’s technical expertise and regulatory vision.

“Since then, he’s built a licensed, profitable, and high-growth infrastructure platform powering nearly 300 financial institutions and processing billions in transactions annually. This follow-on investment reflects our deep confidence in HoneyCoin’s results to date and potential to lead the next generation of compliant, blockchain-enabled finance across Africa.”

Operational in over 45 countries and PCI-DSS Level 1 certified, HoneyCoin allows businesses to collect and disburse mobile money, card, and bank payments across 15 African markets, as well as in the US, Canada, Europe, and the UK. Its FXHub enables customers to buy and sell up to 49 currencies at competitive rates, giving CFOs and finance teams the tools for seamless global treasury management backed by real-time data.

Licensed across key markets including the US, Canada, EU, and key African jurisdictions, HoneyCoin has built direct integrations with banks and telecom operators, including partnerships with MoneyGram, UBA Bank, and Stripe. Its platform is already being used by high-growth businesses and fintechs, including Cedar Money, TerraPay, and Jiji, underlining the platform’s increasing adoption across industries.