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Innovate Africa Launches with $2.5M Angel Fund for Early-Stage Africa-Focused Startups

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Innovate Africa, an angel investment fund that supports early-stage founders in funding life-changing ideas, taking startups from conception to product and financing innovative ventures, has launched with an initial $2.5 million rollout.

Co-founded by Kristin Wilson and Christian Idiodi, the sector-agnostic fund aims to support up to 20 startups in its first year to solve complex, recognised problems such as insecurity, unemployment, and poverty with purpose-driven technology.

Since 2019, the African funding landscape has witnessed positive growth, with disclosed exits surpassing $2.3 billion – representing a significant 13.4% of the total $17.2 billion raised by African startups. Despite this growth, early-stage founders face challenges navigating the path from ideation to market fit.

The persistent lack of early-stage funding further compounds these difficulties, hindering many startups from reaching their full potential and contributing to the continent’s economic growth.

With a mission to empower startups to thrive in Africa’s ever-evolving tech landscape, Innovate Africa Fund will provide insight-driven capital that helps founders accelerate the journey from Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to Product-Market Fit (PMF).

The goal is to facilitate the infrastructure that enables founders to unlock growth through audacious problem-solving, supported by access to a comprehensive ecosystem of resources.

With an average investment of $50,000, the venture fund offers a comprehensive support package designed to propel promising startups towards success.

The robust suite of critical advisory resources includes expert guidance in finance, governance, public relations, and strategy, ensuring a solid foundation for growth. Through its Product Leadership Accelerator, the fund delivers crucial product development support, helping startups refine their offerings and achieve product-market fit.

It also facilitates talent resourcing via an extensive partner network, connecting startups with skilled professionals across various domains. The fund’s portfolio strategy encompasses first cheque funding, a refined product operating model, valuable network and partnerships, assistance with revenue model iterations, and comprehensive operations and governance advisory.

This holistic approach aims to accelerate startups’ path to success, providing them with the tools, resources, and connections needed to navigate early-stage challenges and achieve sustainable growth.

Innovate Africa Fund is anchored by a network of experienced operators and product specialists across Africa, providing a vigorous foundation of knowledge and experience to guide early-stage founders towards success.

Managing Partner, Kristin is also the Chief Strategy Officer at Spurt!, a Venture Partner at Oui Capital, an Investment Lead for the Rising Tide Africa Angel Network and a General Partner at the Bold Angel Fund.

She has a portfolio of 34 African startups including 26 tech startups such as Hoaq, Clafiya, Shuttlers and OmniRetail–recognised as 2024’s Africa’s Fastest Growing Company by the Financial Times. Kristin’s portfolio companies have generated over $100m in revenue and collectively serve over 100,000 users.

Complimenting Kristin’s expertise is Christian, Founder of Firtsi and Work Nigeria. A world-renowned product expert, Christian is a partner at the Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG), and helps companies transform the way they work to create products customers love and brings immense value to the business.

He is co-author of INSPIRED, EMPOWERED, LOVED and TRANSFORMED–New York Times Best-Selling books that have shaped product management globally. He has shaped companies like Amazon and Merrill Corporation, and tackled complex product challenges for industry giants like Microsoft, Interswitch, and Squarespace.

His extensive background in enterprise and consumer products has helped scale businesses from the ground up. His track record includes successfully founding over two dozen companies worldwide.

Speaking about the launch of the Fund, Kristin Wilson, Managing Partner of Innovate Africa Fund said: “Having witnessed the struggles that early-stage African founders face up close, we know that brilliant ideas often lack the resources they need to truly thrive.

“It’s not just about funding, it’s about deep expertise and strong connections–and our investment strategy breaks the cycle of innovators being at the mercy of those with too much leverage and too little knowledge.

“As a founder-first catalyst fund, we provide insight-driven capital to help founders accelerate their journey from MVP to PMF. By providing this support and funding, innovators can focus their efforts on building sustainable, transformative businesses that solve wicked problems and return value to investors”

“Through the Innovate ecosystem, we connect our portfolio companies with seasoned operators and advisors, both in Africa and globally, to ensure they get the expertise they need,” says Christian Idiodi, Founder of Innovate Africa Foundation. “The African diaspora has sent over $150 billion back to the continent in the past three years, but financial support alone isn’t enough.

“Many are eager to contribute their talent and expertise to impactful ventures, and that’s where we come in. It takes an ecosystem to build a startup. By reaching founders at a very early stage, we can connect them to key partners and help foster their success. Ultimately, our decisions today will shape who builds, owns, and benefits from the next wave of disruptive technology in emerging markets.”


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E-Business

Jumia Replatforms its Retail Media Program to Mirakl Ads to Enhance Marketplace Advertising

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Jumia, e-Commerce platform in Africa, has partnered with Mirakl to elevate its marketplace advertising capabilities by deploying Mirakl Ads, a retail media solution uniquely designed to optimize performance for both first-party and third-party sellers.

This move strengthens Jumia’s efforts to deliver more value to its sellers, enhance the customer experience, and unlock profitable and sustainable new sources of revenue. Retail media is a rapidly growing sector within the e-commerce industry, expected to reach $204 billion by 2027 with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2%.

Jumia’s adoption of Mirakl Ads positions the company at the forefront of digital advertising innovation in Africa, unlocking significant opportunities to increase revenue generation. With growing usage across its platform, Jumia is well-placed to capitalize on this momentum by delivering improved advertising tools to sellers and more relevant, personalized product recommendations to customers.

“Advertising is a key growth lever in our marketplace strategy, and this partnership with Mirakl allows us to accelerate that journey with speed and scale.

“By integrating Mirakl Ads, we’re empowering our sellers with smarter tools and delivering a better, more personalized experience to our customers. It also positions us to unlock new revenue streams while deepening engagement across our platform. Importantly, this partnership supports our ambition to grow gross profit and accelerate our path to profitability,” said Francis Dufay, CEO of Jumia.

The collaboration is a testament to Mirakl’s ability to rapidly deploy enterprise-grade solutions, with Jumia launching Mirakl Ads in just two months. This showcases the platform’s ease of integration and fast time-to-value. Now live, the solution equips Jumia’s advertising ecosystem with advanced automation, AI-powered optimization, and seamless campaign          management.

With Mirakl Ads, all advertisers – from the biggest brands to the smallest marketplace sellers – can now boost their sales by leveraging advertising campaigns in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Ivory Coast.

“Jumia’s decision to replatform to Mirakl Ads is a powerful validation of our platform’s ability to deliver immediate and measurable impact for leading marketplaces. By combining Mirakl’s cutting-edge retail media technology with Jumia’s deep market reach, we are enabling sellers to grow faster and customers to benefit from a more relevant, engaging experience. This partnership is a true milestone, not only for Jumia and Mirakl, but for the future of digital commerce across Africa.” said Adrien Nussenbaum, cofounder and co-CEO of Mirakl.

Through this partnership, Jumia is taking a decisive step in accelerating monetization, improving customer engagement, and advancing its long-term financial performance and profitability.


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Galaxy Backbone, Rural Electrification Agency Commit to Deepening Digital and Energy Access Across Nigeria

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In a major step towards deepening Nigeria’s digital and energy infrastructure, Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at a brief but impactful ceremony held in Abuja.

The MoU signals a collaborative effort between both agencies to enhance Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda by integrating reliable energy solutions with cutting-edge ICT infrastructure, especially in higher institutions, Government institutions, underserved and rural communities across the country.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director/CEO of Galaxy Backbone, Professor Ibrahim A. Adeyanju, described the partnership as “a landmark moment in Nigeria’s journey towards a digitally empowered, sustainably powered, and inclusively connected nation.”

“This partnership exemplifies what is possible when two visionary government institutions come together, united by shared goals and driven by the desire to improve the lives of Nigerians everywhere,” he said.

Professor Adeyanju emphasized that while Galaxy Backbone’s core mandate is to provide secure digital infrastructure that powers government operations, reliable and sustainable energy particularly in rural areas is essential to fully actualize digital transformation.

Major highlights of the MoU include:

  • Solar electrification of some of GBB’s Metro Fibre sites in Abuja by the REA.
  • Powering Hostels of Higher Institutions across the country through the Fibre to Hostel Project being driven by the Federal Ministry of Communications Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE).
  • Support for the rollout of the 774 Local Government Digitization Initiative, beginning with six pilot Local Government Areas.
  • Provision of LANs, access points, cloud services, colocation infrastructure, and temporary connectivity to enhance REA’s operational facilities nationwide.

The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency Mr Abba Aliyu, in his remarks, expressed optimism that this collaboration will further bridge the digital and energy divide across Nigeria. He noted that by combining REA’s achievements in expanding energy access with GBB’s robust ICT backbone, both agencies are poised to create lasting impact across governance, education, healthcare, and entrepreneurship.

This partnership is also in direct alignment with the Renewed Hope Digital Transformation Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, which envisions an inclusive digital economy powered by innovation and sustainable energy.

The ceremony was attended by top management from both organizations as well as members of the media.

With today’s signing, Galaxy Backbone and the Rural Electrification Agency have set the tone for stronger, smarter, and more inclusive public service delivery powered by strategic inter-agency collaboration.


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NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced the restoration of its National Identification Number (NIN) verification services nationwide.

NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

This, according to the commission, follows the completion of a system maintenance exercise.

In a statement issued on Friday, the NIMC confirmed that all previously disrupted services have resumed.

“NIMC wishes to inform the general public that the recent technical maintenance has been completed and all services have been restored,” the statement read.

The NIMC urged Nigerians seeking to enroll for NIN to visit the its official website to locate the nearest enrollment centers.

The agency also encouraged individuals to make use of its self-service portal for tasks such as data modification, including name changes.

To further ease the verification process, the Commission recommended downloading the NIMC NameAuth app (oath.app) from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store for quick and secure NIN authentication.

NIMC expressed appreciation for the public’s patience during the service disruption, which had impacted banks, telecom providers, and government agencies that rely on NIN verification for their operations.

 


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