Innovation Village Weekly Roundup: Issue 36/25

The rhythm of a week is rarely consistent. Some weeks crawl by, demanding patience, while others fly past in a blur of activity. What makes the difference? Often, it’s not the volume of work, but the level of clarity we have.

A clear purpose can make a busy week feel like a productive sprint. A lack of it can make even a quiet week feel stagnant. This week, let's focus on finding that clarity that cuts through the noise.

This week's events could easily seem like noise: regulators finally put teeth behind consumer protection, cables began stitching new lifelines under the sea, and the exit of an Analytics giant said more than a thousand press releases.

But zoom out and there’s a bigger mood: it feels like we’re watching Africa’s digital house get rearranged, room by room. Regulators are no longer whispering. They’re drawing the lines. Banks are morphing into telecom companies, and telecom companies are morphing into banks. And beneath it all, the infrastructure, those undersea cables, those fintech rails, is knitting the continent tighter than before. The real story of this Week is about less hype and more consequence.

🌍The Movers

1) FCCPC draws a hard line on rogue loan apps (Nigeria) 

Remember when “quick loans” turned into quick harassment? The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission just rolled out rules with real bite: ₦100m penalty awaits apps that weaponise data or bully users. It’s not just compliance paperwork; it’s a signal. Fintech can move fast, just not at the expense of people’s dignity. This is the week Nigeria said, “Grow, but don’t be cruel.”

2) Kenya gets its first homegrown subsea cable, courtesy of Safaricom & Meta

New cables don’t trend, but they quietly change lives. Safaricom is partnering with Meta (via Edge Network Services) to build Kenya’s first-ever subsea internet cable. Think faster routes, sturdier connectivity, and fewer fragile choke points for East Africa’s digital economy. It’s infrastructure as intention: build the pipes, invite the future.

3) Nielsen exits the Rainbow Nation (South Africa)

For decades, Nielsen was the referee of South Africa’s media math — the company behind the audience numbers that told broadcasters who was watching and advertisers where to spend. Now, it’s packing up. After a “considerable business review,” the global analytics giant says it will exit within 12 months, leaving the Broadcast Research Council scrambling to line up a new scorekeeper.

💰 Recently Funded Companies

The first week of September was a reminder that money still follows bold bets, especially in African tech and adjacent markets. From cooling farms to decoding dialects, here are the stories behind the cheques:

• Koolboks (Nigeria/France, cleantech) raised $11M Series A to push solar-powered cooling deeper into Africa. For farmers, fishmongers, and rural shopkeepers, this isn’t just hardware but the difference between spoilage and income.

• The Invigilator (South Africa, edtech/AI) secured $11M to take its remote assessment platform global. At a time when “cheating” is an AI problem in itself, they’re betting secure testing is an export Africa can own.

• Intella (MENA, Arabic AI) closed a $12.5M round to expand its dialectal Arabic speech intelligence. With Arabic still underserved by big tech models, this is as much cultural preservation as it is an AI business.

• Munify (Egypt, fintech) banked $3M seed funding to build a neobank for Egyptian expats. Their pitch is simple: if you can’t carry home, at least carry your bank in your pocket.

• Justyol (Morocco, e-commerce) landed $1M to grow its cross-border platform and shore up inventory. Small ticket, yes — but for a region where logistics often choke startups, this feels like a necessary lifeline.

• MOPO (Africa, clean energy) won a £5M boost from Norfund, aimed at last-mile energy access. Their “power as a service” model brings literal light to households often left off the grid.

• Babban Gona (Nigeria, agri-tech) secured $7.5M debt financing from BII to scale its work with smallholder farmers. In a country where agriculture still feeds millions, the ripple effect is generational.

• EFAfrica Group (Africa, agriculture) pocketed $7.2M follow-on from AgDevCo to keep building out farmer and SME financing. Call it quiet capital, but it’s the sort that shapes food systems.

• AGRI3 Fund (Global/Agri finance) drew in $35M from Dutch lender FMO to derisk sustainable food projects. Big banks stay cautious — AGRI3 makes sure the risky but necessary bets still get placed.

• Addvocate.AI (Franco-Tunisian, sales AI) got a strategic (undisclosed) investment from 216 Capital. Their pitch: turn every sales rep into a data-backed closer. The kind of niche AI play that could quietly become indispensable.

🍿 Weekend Binge

A few reads to stretch your mind:

• Free Online Platforms to Learn Tech Skills (No Gatekeeping)

• Dolby Vision 2 explainer — what “beyond HDR” actually means for your eyeballs.

• Chrome antitrust decision — what the court said, and what it signals next.

🌱Opportunities

• inDrive Tech Award for Women Entrepreneurs — if you’re building, this is a clean on-ramp to visibility and support.

• Heads-up: Apple’s September 9 event — if you build for iOS or sell to that ecosystem, this is your roadmap briefing.

Bottom Line

This week felt like infrastructure and rules. A penalty that finally protects users. A cable that makes the continent feel closer. A scramble for a new scorekeeper. Not noisy. Just necessary.

See you next Saturday. 😉