Chari, a Moroccan B2B e-commerce and fintech startup announced that it has acquired a 100% stake in Diago, an Ivorian app that connects neighbourhood shops to FMCG producers and importers.
The all-stock transaction was facilitated by AF Legal and RBB International firms, representing Chari, and Houda Law Firm, representing the Ivorian upstart.
Chari’s CEO Ismail Belkhayat says the secret of a successful expansion is to build a local team that masters local market dynamics.
Belkhayat says that the goal is to be the market leader across francophone Africa.

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Boomplay, a Chinese-owned music streaming platform for African artists and songs, has launched in Côte d’Ivoire.
Boomplay Côte d’Ivoire General Manager, Paola Audrey Ndengue, says Boomplay is committed to contributing to the dynamism of the Ivorian music industry’.
With the launch of Boomplay, Ivorian artists now have access to 70 million active users on a platform where they’ll be paid per stream/purchase.
The company has a freemium model similar to YouTube where users can play music for free but with ad intermissions, or pay for an ad-free version.

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The Nigerian government has set out to regulate social media platforms with a new Code of Practice. Plans for the Code of Practice were announced in January by the Director-General of NITDA, Mr Kashifu Inuwa.
The National Information Technology Development Agency announced that it had developed a draft Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries.
The NITDA Head of Corporate Affairs and External Relationships, Hadiza Umar, says the Code is supposedly aimed at protecting the fundamental human rights of Nigerians and non-Nigerians living in the country, as well as defining guidelines for interacting in the digital ecosystem.

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Egypt’s first network of angel investors announced its investment of an undisclosed amount in Nigerian fintech company CredPal.
Cairo Angels’ investment, was made through the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund, a micro venture capital fund that invests between $100,000 and $250,000 in post-seed and pre-series A startups across the Middle East and Africa.
CredPal says that it serves over 85,000 active customers and works with more than 4,000 active merchants and that customers can use the service for transactions from ₦2,000 up to ₦5 million.

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Access Bank is reportedly set to acquire Kenyan Sidian Bank by buying out the entire stake of Centum Investment in the bank for $36.7 million.
If the deal goes through, this will be the Nigerian bank’s second acquisition in the Kenyan market.
The Bank says the deal will see Access Bank take over the 83.4% shares currently belonging to Centum and its subsidiary Bakki Holdco Ltd.
Access Bank CEO Roosevelt Ogbonna says this deal will help Access to continue strengthening its presence in Kenya, a market the bank regards as key to its diversification strategy.
He says through this transaction and the subsequent merger with Access Bank Kenya, we will be well placed to promote regional trade finance and other cross-border banking services.

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The European_Commission is going to force smartphone manufacturers like Apple and other electronics makers to equip their devices with a standard USB-C charging port.
EU lawmakers agreed to a single mobile charging port for mobile phones, tablets and cameras. It means equipment makers will have to comply with the new terms by 2024.
EU commissioner Thierry Breton says they have a deal on the #CommonCharger!

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The boss of Goldman Sachs-backed digital bank Starling has doubled down on criticisms of crypto, calling digital currencies a threat to the safety of payment infrastructure.
Founder of Starling Anne Boden warned that a lot of crypto wallets are being connected directly to payment schemes.
Boden says it is a threat to the safety of payment schemes around the world.
Regulators are concerned about the financial system becoming more entwined with the volatile world of crypto.

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We frequently hear of foreign companies acquiring African companies however, we rarely hear of African companies acquiring foreign companies.
Africa’s largest fintech interoperability hub, MFS Africa, will reportedly acquire US-based payments software company Global Technology Partners in a $34 million deal.
MFS Africa’s acquisition of GTP will allow MFS Africa to offer its users prepaid cards, and the fintech will expand into the US.
MFS Africa CEO Dare Okoudjou, says it’s mostly for international e-commerce platforms, which are not able or willing to create the user experience that will accept mobile.

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Nine African startups representing 8 countries have been selected to participate in the second edition of the Norrsken Impact Accelerator, a prominent early-stage accelerator.
Norrsken Foundation has been courting Africa since it announced in 2019 the launch of its entrepreneurship hub, Norrsken House, in Kigali, Rwanda.
The first outside its headquarters, Sweden, the hub also features an African-focused seed fund which has allowed it to invest in Rwandan companies, most notably Viebeg Technology and PesaChoice.

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Johnny Lee, general manager of games at Solana Labs, says Solana Ventures and Solana Foundation have set up a $100 million investment and grant fund to deploy capital into South Korean web3 startups.
He says the fund will focus on gaming studios, GameFi, NFTs and DeFi in South Korea.
Head of communications at Solana Labs, Austin Federa, says the fund is backed by capital from the Solana community treasury in addition to the venture arm’s pool of capital.
Lee says they want to be flexible; there’s a wide range of project sizes, and team sizes, so some of the investments will be venture-sized checks.

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