Author: Elan

Africa’s startup funding ecosystem rebounded strongly in May 2026, with the continent’s top 10 funded startups securing a combined $242.6 million, representing 93.4% of the $259.8 million raised by 43 startups during the month. According to startup funding data for May 2026, total capital raised more than doubled from $110.4 million recorded in April 2026, representing a month-on-month increase of 133.5%. The data reflects a significant concentration of capital among a handful of high-growth ventures, as the remaining startups shared just $17.2 million, while two companies disclosed fundraising activity without revealing the amounts raised. What the data is saying The…

Namibian entrepreneurs who rely on the popular ‘order with me’ model say xenophobic attacks in South Africa are threatening their livelihoods, forcing some to halt trips to the neighbouring country over safety concerns. The concerns arise ahead of tomorrow’s meeting between Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare and informal traders, where customs duties, taxation and regulatory challenges are expected to dominate the agenda. The engagement will take place at the Namibia University of Science and Technology main campus in Windhoek. Selma Uutoni (27), owner of Tirana boutique, said the attacks have already affected her business operations. “We stopped travelling to South Africa…

In brief Researchers found AI agents powered by GPT-5 and Gemini could not resist prompt injection attacks. Direct attacks succeeded more than 79% of the time, while hidden attacks embedded in web content frequently manipulated agent behavior. The findings suggest prompt injection remains a broader security problem as AI agents become more mainstream. As developers race to deploy AI agents capable of browsing the internet, conducting research, shopping online, and trading cryptocurrency autonomously, new research suggests the systems remain highly vulnerable to prompt injection attacks.In a new study published on Thursday, researchers from Nanyang Technological University, ST Engineering, IBM Research,…

Kora, the payment infrastructure platform, has joined the International Air Transport Association’s IATA Financial Gateway (IFG), connecting global airlines to Africa’s payment ecosystem through a single, reliable infrastructure layer. IATA Financial Gateway is the airline industry’s dedicated payment orchestration and management platform. IFG brings together global, regional and local payment partners to provide airlines with the right mix of payment options to maximize acceptance, reduce cost, and better serve customers in every market. Through this integration, airlines and travel agencies using IFG can now accept payments across Africa via Kora, including cards, bank transfers, mobile money, and local alternative payment…

Whether you’re managing a business, leading a team, or simply keeping track of your finances, Excel spreadsheets remain one of the most important tools in day-to-day work. That’s why Microsoft continues to roll out new functions and features on a regular basis. If you aren’t taking advantage of these additions, you could be missing out on faster, more efficient ways to get things done. While some new Excel functions receive plenty of attention, many useful ones fly under the radar. However, I’ve identified the six featured here as must-know functions for 2026, especially because they’ve already made a noticeable difference…

Beijing horse Zambia’s recent cancellation of RightsCon at the eleventh hour highlights China’s influence in Africa and how the economic giant is unforgiving in protecting its strategic and geopolitical interests. Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Han Jing (L) and Zambian finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane during a signing ceremony of a development cooperation agreement in Lusaka, Zambia, on 24 April 2026. © Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua via AFP Published on June 12, 2026 at 16:30 pm (GMT +1) Zambia’s last-minute postponement of RightsCon, one of the world’s largest gatherings on digital rights and internet freedom, exposed the difficult balancing act many African governments face…

Partner Content: Africa’s Business Heroes Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH), the flagship philanthropic initiative of the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Philanthropy, has unveiled its 2026 Top 100 entrepreneurs, selected from more than 24,000 applications from all 54 African countries. For the first time in ABH’s history, the competition has expanded its first round of finalists from a Top 50 to a Top 100 cohort, creating more visibility and opportunity for entrepreneurs across regions, sectors, and business models. The expansion reflects the growing depth, competitiveness, and commercial maturity of African entrepreneurship as ABH approaches its 10-year milestone. The 2026 Top 100…

What’s in store for Africa at the FIFA World Cup 2026? – African Business What’s in store for Africa at the FIFA World Cup 2026? – African Business

The Raydium AMM V3 exploit drained roughly $1.34 million from a phased-out program tied to five pools outside the current product path, unsupported by Raydium’s UI or SDK, and inaccessible to current users.The exploit hit legacy DeFi contracts and infrastructure that nobody treated as a live attack surface, exposing a lifecycle-management failure that extends well beyond one Solana decentralized exchange.The category nobody is countingPublic exploit reports have found at least eight clear cases since March 2025 in which deprecated, obsolete, or legacy DeFi contracts became the attack surface, totaling roughly $10.8 million in losses.Extending the definition to include broader legacy-vault…

A Nigerian business can send an email to a supplier in China in seconds. But paying that supplier can take days. Tomiwa “Aleph” Lasebikan encountered that disconnect repeatedly as the head of product at Y Combinator-backed crypto startup Helicarrier, which he co-founded after leaving Microsoft in 2018. Customers who came to the company for crypto services often had a more practical problem: receiving dollars, paying overseas suppliers, and moving money across borders. Now Lasebikan is betting stablecoins can help solve it. His new startup, Daya, is building a payments platform that helps businesses access dollar liquidity, settle international transactions, and…