InsurTech company OKO Finance is using satellite and mobile technologies to bring crop insurance to emerging markets. OKO uses satellite information to define the risk and create insurance products for farmers in emerging markets. These products are then distributed using mobile technologies….

SA based company Aerobotics is leveraging drones and machine learning to help large scale farmers monitor their farms. Their technology enables farmers to spot troubled plants individually (those with pests and diseases), as opposed to the most commonly used satellite imagery, which…

Search engine giant Google has introduced its two-wheeler mode in Kenya. This new functionality allows motorcycle riders to calculate journey times accurately, get directions for narrow shortcuts inaccessible to larger vehicles. The new feature will also alert riders of restricted roads. The…

Kenya is Google’s first choice for its Google maps – street view in Africa. The service is very popular in other countries around the world. The feature allows a user to explore and navigate a neighborhood virtually through panoramic street-level images. The…

Companies shortlisted for the 4th AppsAfrica.com Innovation Awards have been announced. The 70 finalists have been selected from a pool of 300 submissions from 39 countries, with solutions in all 54 African countries. The awards recognize the best mobile and technology startups…

Egypt’s first smartphone maker, Silicon Industries Corporation (SICO), has announced its plans to expand into seven new African countries, among them; Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, DR Congo, Ghana, Nigeria and Mozambique. The company is targeting low-income earners in Africa with handset…

Presidential Digi-talent program graduate, Damu-Sasa, has announced a partnership with Amref Africa and Advanced IT Solutions to make blood more available to hospitals. Blood supply programs will benefit from the company’s Blood Services Information Management System. The firm says the system was…

Nairobi-based Ona and BRCK were yesterday listed in Time Magazine’s top 50 ‘Genius Companies’. Ona, established in 2013, provides a digital mapping and analysis tool used by health workers based in rural areas to identify underserved and in need places, while BRCK…

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has finally embarked on the process of numbering streets, buildings and homes to make door-to-door delivery of letters as well as goods from online retailers like Jumia a simpler task. This past Wednesday, the regulator started…

Cote D’Ivoire based CinetPay is a mobile money payment hub that federates mobile money payment methods in Africa. The company exhibited and won at the 2018 Ivory Coast Leg of Seedstars competition, and represented the country at next year’s final in Switzerland….

Nairobi-based Optimetriks’ leverages a community of users, paid per visit, to perform retail census and audits, collect data on the ground and take pictures at outlets through Optimetriks’ native Android application and a Facebook Messenger chatbot. The data is then processed (screened…

ConnectMed is an innovative health-tech company that connects patients to doctors. In most African countries, the high population has resulted in an inadequate ratio of doctors to patients. Many people still don’t have ready access to a medical practitioner near them, much…

Kenya is set to host the 18th edition of the Organisation of Women in International Trade (OWIT) Conference in Nairobi from the 25th of October. The conference brings together women entrepreneurs from financial institutions, NGOs and policymakers. It will focus on ways…

The head of Safaricom’s innovation lab, Kamal Bhattacharya, has left Kenya’s biggest telecoms company less than a year and a half after he joined. He left after leading Safaricom’s Alpha innovation unit since April of 2017. The former IBM executive told Reuters…

Facebook has launched a third-party fact-checking program in Kenya to help online users evaluate the accuracy of the news. The program is expected to curb the spread of misinformation, commonly known as fake news, and improve the quality of news received. Facebook…

This year’s International Open Data Conference (IODC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, ended with the exciting announcement that the 6th edition of the conference will be held in Africa, specifically Nairobi. This will be the first time Africa hosts the bi-annual conference that…

The long-awaited mobile money interoperability has finally arrived. Kenyan mobile phone owners on the different networks will be able to send money across the different networks. This new arrangement is to start this week on the 4th of October. It is under…

Senegal’s MaTontine is a digital financial services platform seeking to improve locals’ access to financial services through the use of digital technology. Matontine shared more insights with TechMoran about their company, what it is doing to achieve this and its vision for…

Kenya’s government is set to put up labs in schools for students to learn and use technology as part of the digital literacy program in the country. ICT cabinet secretary Joe Mucheru said a new curriculum is already in place and is…

Rwanda-based startup BAG Innovation was shortlisted for this year’s Seedstars edition in the country. BAG Innovation is a Youth Consultancy Agency offering services such as youth consulting, youth recruitment, and capacity Building Training. Its main objective is to strengthen the capacity of…

The Kenya Communications Authority (CA) earlier this week cautioned Kenyans to take precautions when shopping online. The authority said fraudsters have taken to creating look-a-like e-commerce websites and mobile applications for the purpose of stealing from unsuspecting buyers by luring them with…

Pesamill Africa has on-boarded the crypto ecosystem in Kenya. Pesamill is a peer-to-peer and centralized exchange. The newly launched platform was founded by Brian Ngugi, who has a background in Law. He built Pesamill to solve some of the major problems facing…

Seedstars Rwanda competition ended with local startup BenefactorsLTD bagging best startup in the country. BenefactorsLTD is a factoring company that provides tailored working capital solutions to firms. Factoring is a financial service, where future payments from your buyers are sold to a…

Kenya’s Ministry of tourism and wildlife is set to partner with China-based Alibaba Group through its cloud-computing arm. The two entities will collaborate to develop a suitable strategy for the deployment of cloud computing technology to help in wildlife protection in Kenya….

The overall cost of mobile money transfers, ATM and over-the-counter withdrawals, data and mobile services is set to rise as the taxman sinks deeper into Kenyans pockets. President Uhuru Kenyatta proposed ATM and banking taxes be doubled from the current 10% to…

    Growing up, life is relatively easy for most people. Your parents or guardians help ensure your basic needs of food, water, warmth, rest, security and safety. You get to be a kid and learn to navigate the world around you…

Earlier today digital taxi drivers downed their tools in protest against what they claim is poor and exploitative pricing by the dominant taxi app companies. The drivers had previously protested in July citing the same reasons, which resulted in a deal whose…

Internet Solutions (IS), formerly Access Kenya Group, will soon be offering consumption-based billing for businesses as opposed to the traditional fixed billing model. THis services will have businesses only pay for internet that they use, which cuts down on the overhead experienced…

Mastercard, Vodacom Tanzania Plc and BancABC have partnered to introduce Tanzania to its first online card, M-Pesa virtual card. Hisham Hendi, Vodacom Tanzania Acting Managing Director said introducing the card would open up opportunities for Tanzanians to shop online safely and conveniently….