E-Business
TechCrunch Returns to Africa With Startup Battlefield

TechCrunch Startup Battlefield in partnership with Facebook, returns to Africa in 2018, featuring panels and keynotes with high-powered industry leaders such as Omobola Johnson, senior partner at TLcom Capital, and Lexi Novitske of Singularity Investments. Following the breakout success of last year’s Startup Battlefield Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, the 2018 competition will unfold in Lagos, Nigeria.
The hottest startups from across the Sub-Saharan Africa region will be competing to be crowned the continent’s best startup on 11 December, following in the footsteps of 2017 overall winner, Lori Systems hailing from Kenya, who have built a logistics platform that is revolutionising the cargo-transport value chain in Africa.
TechCrunch Startup Battlefield is looking to identify Sub-Saharan Africa’s best innovators, makers and technical entrepreneurs. Last year the competition highlighted how technology is optimising supply chains, increasing access to education, strengthening farmers’ revenues and so much more.
TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa will take place in front of a live audience and top judges, and the show will be covered on the TechCrunch platforms. The judges will have to select a winner to be dubbed; “Sub-Saharan Africa’s Most Promising Startup.” The winning startup’s founders will be awarded $25,000 in cash plus a trip for two to compete in Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch’s flagship event, Disrupt in 2019.
Battlefield Africa will also feature panel discussions that explore the best tech in Africa and how the technology investment landscapes is changing. The first two speakers announced for the event offer direct knowledge about investing Silicon Valley money in the local ecosystem:
- Omobola Johnson is a senior partner at TLcom Capital and the former Minister of Communication Technology for Nigeria. Her vast knowledge of the startup investing landscape comes from her 25-year tenure at Accenture where she served as the managing director.
- Lexi Novitske is the principal investment officer for Singularity Investments where she is responsible for managing investments in the firm’s Africa portfolio.
“The inaugural edition of TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa confirmed that Sub-Saharan Africa is home to a vibrant and growing technology startup ecosystem,” says Mike Butcher, Editor at Large, TechCrunch: “We look forward to hearing about how this year’s competitors are disrupting their markets, providing innovative solutions to social and economic problems, and positioning themselves as global contenders.”
“Supporting the next generation and wave of African start-ups is something that we at Facebook are passionate about. Our sponsorship of TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa, for the second year running highlights our commitment to the start-up scene on the continent, and helping to provide a world stage to showcase the very best in African talent and solutions” said Emeka Afigbo, Head of Developer Programmes at Facebook.
Notable companies that launched on TechCrunch’s global stage include Vurb, Trello, Mint, Dropbox, Yammer, Tripit, Redbeacon, Qwiki, Getaround, and Soluto. The 763 startups that have participated since the first competition, TC40 in 2007 have raised $8.2 billion, while 102 have been acquired or have gone public as of December 2017.
E-Business
African Startups Raised $345m in Funding in May

African startups raised more than $345 million across 65 deals in May, more than double the amount raised in the same period of last year, according to a report by Briter, a research and business intelligence firm.
The report disclosed that both the number of deals and participating companies declined, confirming a growing trend of fewer companies raising funds in larger sizes.
It said fintech attracted the highest share of funding in May, accounting for 34 percent of the total, while cleantech followed closely, driven by a debt deal from Sun King. The company raised $80 million (in local currency) to expand clean energy access in Nigeria.
“Equity remains the primary instrument in terms of total value. There’s no doubt about it; in fact, equity deals with disclosed amounts captured more than half of the total funding volume in May.
“However, debt financing is increasingly proving its weight. Although it accounted for only 8 percent of all deals, it represented 32 percent of the total funding, highlighting the typically larger size of debt transactions. With the rise of specialised vehicles targeting early-stage businesses, debt is becoming an increasingly important part of Africa’s innovation funding landscape,” it said.
Briter’s report added that grants continued to play a vital role in early-stage support, especially in the education technology (EdTech) sector. The Mastercard Foundation led the pack in grant activity, funding a new cohort of EdTech innovators in Nigeria and Kenya. Each selected startup is set to receive $100,000 in grant funding, in addition to mentorship and business development support.
Multilaterals also made a strong showing in May, it said. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a World Bank Group member, issued a $179.6 million guarantee to CleanTech firm KOKO Networks. The support will help scale its clean energy solutions across Kenya.
“This deal not only demonstrates growing international confidence in African climate ventures but also signals a promising pathway for other asset-intensive startups in clean cooking, agriculture, and renewable energy,” the report said.
From a geographic perspective, Egypt emerged as the continent’s fundraising powerhouse for the month, contributing 51 percent of all funding raised. The country recorded 12 deals across equity, debt, and bond instruments. Notably, FinTech platform MNT-Halan raised $50 million through a bond issuance, further illustrating the diversification of capital-raising mechanisms in the region.
Outside Egypt, funding was distributed across Africa’s three other key markets, which are Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya, with limited activity recorded in countries such as Ghana, Tunisia, Morocco, and Uganda, each registering between one and three deals.
In terms of exits, the African tech landscape continues to mature. Three companies—Baobab+, Qardy, and Shopa—were acquired in May, bringing the total number of exits this year to 22. This already surpasses last year’s count for the same period. Qardy was acquired by Catalyst Partners Middle East (CPME) in a disclosed deal valued at $23 million, the report added.
E-Business
Human Hacking: When Cyber Criminals Target You

By Nancy Werteen
When you get anti-hacking advice, you’ve probably heard “Don’t use a simple password,” or “Don’t plug in that USB you found on the ground.”
But there’s one form of hacking that doesn’t always require a computer, and it costs businesses about 4.88 million dollars a year.
Modern hackers aren’t trying to get into your computer; they’re trying to get into you.
“They’ll try to learn about you a little bit, and they’ll try to use that information against you to try to get you to complete some action, maybe to send somebody some money,” said Kevin Moran, PhD, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Cyber Security and Privacy Cluster, University of Central Florida.
IBM calls this human hacking, because it exploits human error instead of system error.
“With people just being busy and maybe not very carefully checking some of the emails or the phone calls that they get, can be something unfortunately that people can fall victim to,” said Moran.
Also known as social engineering, this often takes the form of phishing, where the hacker tries to “fish” the information out of you by impersonating family, friends, or even your bank.
There’s also baiting, where the hacker baits you with something of value. Remember the Nigerian prince scam?
That’s a famous example of baiting. There’s also pretexting, where the hacker will claim the victim has already been hacked, and that the hacker can fix it if you just send over your passwords. So, what can you do?
“Just as a rule of thumb, instead of clicking on links and emails, just go to the website yourself. And that will prevent, a lot of these types of attacks from happening,” explained Moran.
Phishing can take many forms.
Spear phishing targets people with access to confidential information, often to get access into an entire business, and whale phishing targets CEOs or political figures.
Search engine phishing is when hackers create fake websites promising services or goods you’ll never receive.
Angler phishing is when hackers create fake social media accounts impersonating famous people or companies.
Finally, vishing and smishing is phishing done through phone calls and texts respectively.
E-Business
FG Enrolls 59,786 Inmates on NIN Platform

Federal government has said that it has successfully captured 59,786 inmates, representing approximately 74 percent of the total prison population into the National Identity Number (NIN) database.
This figure is based on a total of 80,879 inmates across 256 custodial centres across the country.
Abubakar Umar, spokesman, Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Deputy Controller of Corrections, who made this disclosure in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, dismissed recent media reports alleging that the NIN registration had yet to begin in custodial centres.
Umar described such report as misleading, inaccurate, and not representative of the current situation.
According to Umar, the NIN registration exercise within the correctional facilities was ongoing and has achieved substantial progress.
He credited the achievement to collaboration between the NCoS and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which has enabled successful enrollment of majority of inmates into the national identity database.
According to him, “As of June 7, 2025, a total of 59,786 inmates, roughly 74 percent cent of the total inmate population have been captured on the NIMC platform,” Umar said.
“Efforts are ongoing to register the remaining inmates, and necessary mechanisms have been established to ensure the seamless completion of the process.”
He emphasised that the assertion that NIN registration has not started in custodial centres was factually incorrect and overlooks the extensive work already carried out.
The Service reaffirmed its commitment to integrating all inmates into national data systems, including NIN registration, as part of broader efforts to support rehabilitation, reintegration, and digital inclusion for individuals in custody.
Umar also urged media outlets to confirm their information with appropriate authorities before publication to prevent the spread of misinformation that could undermine the Service’s progress and public understanding.
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