Inside Africa's intra-continental M&A wave
The Africa B2B Tech Report, Africa-Middle East B2B tech news & insights for 22 July 2026.
Welcome to issue 77 of the Africa B2B Tech Report Daily. We bring you a daily digest of the news that matters to The Business of African Tech.
The Africa B2B Tech Report is published by BigFive Digital, an African tech media and events firm that produces the annual BigFive Summit in Cape Town. The report is produced and edited by Charles Laughlin, BigFive Digital’s Co-founder & Chief Content Officer. Charles is a globally experienced tech journalist, podcaster, & conference producer.
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Report: Funding crunch drove M&A wave across Africa in 1H ‘26
According to the State of Tech in Africa H1 2026 report by TechCabal Insights, a prolonged venture capital funding drought is driving a wave of intra-continental consolidation.
Rather than pursuing hyper-growth or battling for hard-to-find equity capital, African startups are increasingly leveraging mergers, acquisitions, and acqui-hires to achieve operational efficiency, expand market runways, and reach operational scale that historically required raising multi-million-dollar equity rounds.
This type of consolidation is no longer viewed as a distress exit, the report argues, but rather as a mature tool to capture new geographies and regulatory licenses rapidly.
Here are a few examples of high-profile cross-border transactions completed in the first half of the year:
Raenest (Nigeria) acquired Egyptian payroll platform TelyPay to anchor its North African footprint.
Stitch (South Africa) bought Efficacy Payments to aggressively deepen its enterprise payment infrastructure.
Peach Payments (South Africa) acquired Senegal’s PayDunya, instantly expanding its presence into Francophone West Africa.
Speaking at the March BigFive Summit in Cape Town, Peach Payments CEO Rahul Jain emphasized the challenges involved in new market entry, including acquiring local licenses.
“We have to be locally present in every market and secure a license from a central bank,” Rahul explains. “It’s like having a wisdom tooth extracted without any anesthetic.”
Using acquistions to make this process less painful was a key motivator for Peach Payments.
Listen to our conversation with Rahul
We also heard a version of the intra-continental M&A message at the Summit during a fireside chat with Zach George, one of the founders of the early-stage VC Launch Africa Ventures.
In that conversation, George noted that intra-African M&A has stepped up to at least in part compensate for the lack of funding.
“What’s really interesting is the percentage of M&A happening in Africa has really shot up,” Zach said at the Summit. “You don’t have to constantly rely on U.S. or European funds to create liquidity. You can create internal liquidity within the continent.”
Listen to our conversation with Zach
For its part, Launch Africa Ventures has been pushing hard against the funding slowdown narrative.
In June, we reported that Launch Africa had distributed $2.5 million to limited partners from one of its two funds. This move was promoted (correctly) as a signal that African investors will eventually be rewarded for their faith in African tech.
In the past week, Launch Africa has been boasting that it has completed 15 new investments in the first half of this year, again pushing against the funding slowdown narrative.
The companies receiving their first Launch Africa investments this year include Agridex, Udu Technologies, Fincart, Tayar, Khaime, Anavid, Mainstack, Growwr, Yamify, Legendary Foods and Masunga.
Here is our quick daily roundup of the African tech and business stories we think you should be aware of, but probably didn’t have the time to read. [Original sources included.]
Today’s TLDR is presented by SALT
Connecting business with digital talent in South Africa
Rank launches community finance suite to scale social trust
Nigerian fintech Rank (formerly Moni) has launched a suite of community finance products to digitize group savings and business lending across Africa. Powered by its acquisitions of AjoMoney and Rank Microfinance Bank, the platform enables trade associations, cooperatives, and SMEs to pool funds, access credit, and build wealth through social trust.
TechCabal
Yet another use for BNPL: Solar infrastructure for Kenyan SMEs
Global clean energy firm BLUETTI has launched a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) financing model in Kenya, targeting households and SMEs. Rather than demanding steep upfront capital, the pay-as-you-go model allows businesses to acquire solar storage systems over time to bypass rising electricity costs and persistent grid instability.
Capital FM Kenya
Botswana Tech Fund Reaches $6.7M First Close for Southern Africa
The Botswana Tech Fund has completed a $6.7 million first close of its targeted $67 million vehicle to back Southern African MSME technology startups. Anchored by Pula Investments, the multi-stage fund has appointed Launch Africa Ventures as its phase-one investment advisor using a unique managed accounts strategy.
Empower Africa
Executive order throws Nigerian crypto licensing Into disarray
President Bola Tinubu’s Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination has caught Web3 operators off guard, stalling active SEC licensing applications. By creating a CBN-led Virtual Asset Council, the order overlaps regulatory jurisdictions, forcing crypto firms into compliance limbo as tax authorities, central bankers, and capital market regulators battle over supervisory boundaries.
Launch Base Africa
Founders urged: ditch copycatting the Valley, focus on local nuance
Speaking at the UBA Business Series, African startup leaders warned that sustainable scaling depends entirely on solving hyper-local consumer problems rather than copying Western business models. Panelists—including Chowdeck’s Femi Aluko and investor Ashim Egunjobi—stressed that driving true product-market fit requires deep operational alignment with unique regional realities.
Technology Times
Syrian super app Labby lands $10M foreign investment
Syrian super app Labby has raised $10 million from a consortium of UAE and Saudi Arabian investors. Marking the country’s first direct foreign venture capital investment in a technology startup, the capital will fund the rollout of its consolidated platform offering ride-hailing, food delivery, and digital payments.