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Google Graduates third Cohort of Launchpad Accelerator Africa Programme, Opens Portal for fourth cohort

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Fola Olatunji-David, Head, Startup Success and Services, Google
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Google has graduated the third cohort of Launchpad Accelerator Africa on Friday, with application for fourth cohort now open in Lagos.

 

The programme is part of Google’s ongoing efforts to support entrepreneurship on the continent.

 

The Launchpad Accelerator Africa Class 3 comprised of 12 startups from six African countries – Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda – 58% of which have female co-founders.

 

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Fola Olatunji-David, Head, Startup Success and Services, Launchpad Accelerator Africa, said that all of the teams that participated in Class 3 have been trained in machine learning technologies and are implementing AI in their offerings, noting that they are looking towards building AI-first startups powered by Google technology.

 

“The startups in this class have raised close to $9-million in funding, created more than 120 jobs and their products and services have over 270 000 users.”

 

“We know that Africa is awash with entrepreneurial potential,” he said. “If that potential is to be transformed into job creation, startups founded by those entrepreneurs need to grow.

 

“This programme is about giving them the best possible chance of achieving that growth,” he stated.

 

The graduating startups now form part of Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa’s alumni along with the 23 startups from Classes 1 and 2 who between them have created 385 direct jobs and raised over $19-million before, during and after they participated in the programme.

 

Olatunji-David, further said that “The growth of entrepreneurship in Africa is critical to the survival of our continent.

 

“We’re currently as a region creating about 3 million jobs per year while more than 11 million job seekers are entering the market.

 

“Google believes that empowering entrepreneurs and startups is essential to drive employment growth and enable both economic and social development on the continent. Google thrives when other business thrives.”

 

Later this year, Cohort 4 will kick off where we will see another 10-12 African startups compete for the three-month acceleration programme. Applications for Class 4 open today – 21 June – and will be open until 26 July.

 

The 12 startups that graduated on Friday, in alphabetical order are:

 

54Gene (Nigeria): Improves drug discovery by researching multiple genetically diverse African populations.

 

Data Integrated Limited (Kenya): Automates and digitises SME payments, connecting the street to high finance.

 

Instadiet.me (Egypt): Connects patients to credible nutritionists and dietitians online to help them maintain a healthy and optimal weight.

 

Kwara (Kenya): Provides a rich digital banking platform to established fair lenders such as credit unions or savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs), with an open API to enable and accelerate their inclusion into the formal financial ecosystem.

OkHi (Kenya): A physical addressing platform for emerging markets that is on a mission to enable the 4 billion without a physical address to “be included”.

 

PAPS (Senegal): A logistics startup with a strong client-care orientation, focused on last mile delivery in the domestic market that features live tracking, an intelligent address system and automatic dispatch.

 

Others are: ScholarX (Nigeria): An education startup that connects high potential students with funding opportunities to help them advance in their studies.

 

Swipe2pay (Uganda) – A web and mobile payments solution that democratizes electronic payments for SMEs by making it easy for them to accept mobile as a mode of payment.

 

Tambua Health Inc. (Kenya): The Tambua App turns a normal smartphone into a powerful, non-invasive diagnostic tool for Tuberculosis and Pneumonia. It uses a cough sound acoustic signature, symptoms, risk factors and clinical information to come up with a diagnostic report.

 

Voyc.ai (South Africa): Voyc.ai’s CX Research Platform helps companies understand their customers by turning their customer research into insights, personas and customer journey maps.

 

WellaHealth (Nigeria): A pharmacy marketplace for affordable high-quality disease-care (such as malaria treatment) driven by artificial intelligence.

 

Zomila (formerly Zelda Learning) (South Africa): Provides free online career guidance for students looking to enter university and then links them to funding and study opportunities

 

 

 


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

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MTN Says New N6.98 USSD Charge Won’t Affect Airtime Recharge

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Lynda Saint-Nwafor, chief Enterprise business officer, MTN Nigeria, has assured the network subscribers that the new end-user billing system for the use of USSD services will jot affect them.

MTN Says New N6.98 USSD Charge Won’t Affect Airtime Recharge

USSD, otherwise Unstructured Supplementary Service Data codes are commonly used for banking transactions, airtime recharges, and other mobile services.

The telco said that  there is no significant impact or change other than the fact that they will now pay the same N6.98 per session (120 seconds) with their airtime instead of direct bank debit.

Saint-Nwafor, said this during a chat with MTN MIP fellows, explaining that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have ordered telecom operators to ensure that the new billing model resolves trust issues and ensures transparency in the billing process.

“Our regulator insisted that at the end of every month, we are going to be providing history and statistics on the performance of the service across the board”, she explained.

Saint-Nwafor added that the new billing model has standardized messaging across all operators and ensures consistent communication with customers.

“We will take all the error codes and map them into messages that are standardised across the board. So, if you initiate a transaction, you will know if it is failing. And, when the transaction fails, you will know if it is from your bank or the telco,” she explained.

 


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Crypto Scam Unmasked: U.S. Recovers Record $225m in Global Fraud Bust

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The U.S. government has recovered $225 million in what is now the largest seizure of funds linked to a cryptocurrency investment scam.

In a statement released Wednesday, June 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the recovery followed an extensive investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, using blockchain analysis and other forensic tools. The statement did not confirm whether any arrests had been made.

According to the authorities, the stolen funds originated from fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes that tricked victims into believing they were making legitimate investments. More than 400 individuals around the world, including dozens in the United States, were reportedly affected.

The operation involved a sophisticated money laundering network that carried out hundreds of thousands of blockchain transactions to obscure the source and ownership of the stolen assets.

“These scams prey on trust, often resulting in extreme financial hardship for the victims,” said Shawn Bradstreet, Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Secret Service office in San Francisco.

Bradstreet added that U.S. officials hope the recovered funds can eventually be returned to the rightful victims.

Cryptocurrency investment fraud accounted for over $5.8 billion in reported losses in 2024 alone, according to the statement.


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Nnaemeka Ani Calls on African Techies to Rewrite the Narrative

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Hon. Nnaemeka Ani
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In a rousing declaration that is electrifying minds across the continent, Hon. Nnaemeka Ani, Special Adviser on ICT to Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, has called for a homegrown digital revolution under the banner “Africa Will Rise: By Code, By Courage, By Us.”

Hon. Nnaemeka Ani

The message, part challenge, part philosophical—seeks to galvanize African innovators to move beyond buzzwords and build technology with impact and legacy in mind.

“Let’s stop building for hype. Let’s start building for legacy,” Ani urged while speaking to ICT journalists over the weekend. “Let’s stop waiting for someone else. Let’s start creating the future—on our own terms.”

At the heart of Ani’s vision is a shift from tech consumerism to tech authorship. With innovation hubs sprouting across cities like Enugu, Lagos, Kigali, Jo’Burg, and Nairobi, and a growing community of developers, engineers, and entrepreneurs determined to solve Africa’s unique challenges, the movement is already taking shape.

Ani emphasized that Africa’s future lies not in flashy apps or international admiration but in persistent, intentional solutions that uplift communities—solutions that digitize public services, bridge rural-urban divides, empower women and youth, and build resilience in food and climate systems.

“We have the talent,” he said. “Now it’s time to harness it—to stop building for likes and start building for lasting impact.”

With support from leaders like Ani and rising momentum in Africa’s tech corridors, it seems that a new chapter is being written—one line of code at a time.


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