👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – No space for Starlink in SA
In today's edition: End of the road for Starlink in South Africa? || Cameroon acquires French-owned bank || Chimoney shuts down || Kenya proposes 25% levy on smartphones
Tech
South African artists earned $30.69 million on Spotify in 2025. Most of it came from abroad.
Nearly 74% of the $30.69 million earned by South African artists on Spotify in 2025 came from listeners outside the country, reflecting surging global demand for amapiano and other local genres.
Grey joins Moonshot 2026 as headline sponsor
TechCabal is announcing Grey, the US-based global cross-border payments company serving nearly three million users across 70 countries, as the headline sponsor of Moonshot 2026, for the conference’s return on October 28 and 29, 2026, at the National Theatre, Lagos, Nigeria. Grey’s headline partnersh
Techstars-backed fintech Chimoney shuts down, to refund customer balances
In a May 1 email seen by TechCabal, the Canada-based startup told customers it had stopped processing new transactions and integrations and had begun refunding customer balances.
Telecom subscribers may feel impact as IHS Towers slows infrastructure projects
IHS Towers is slowing infrastructure spending as rising costs across African markets force telecom companies to rethink expansion plans, a move that could also slow efforts to improve network quality for millions of mobile subscribers.
Africa’s AI sovereignty problem is really an energy problem
Africa's AI ambitions keep colliding with the same wall. Foreign powers overpromise, legislation imitates the wrong models, and beneath it all sits an energy deficit that no amount of geopolitical deal-making can paper over. The sovereignty question was never really about algorithms. It was always a
Kenya targets Visa, Mastercard, Microsoft in sweeping digital tax overhaul
New tax proposal could raise the cost of cross-border technology services in Kenya, with implications for banks, fintechs, and startups.
Kenya’s proposed phone tax could raise smartphone prices sharply
Kenya plans to introduce a 25% excise duty on mobile phones, a move that could raise prices in one of Africa’s most connected economies and slow smartphone adoption.
Next Wave: Kenya has conquered mobile money. Now it must fix the system underneath
Kenya has already proved that digital payments can bridge the financial inclusion gap. Its next challenge is to build an ecosystem where every bank, fintech, merchant, and mobile wallet can move money seamlessly together.
👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Jiji goes to Bangladesh
In today's edition: Jiji acquires Bangladeshi startup || South Africa hires AI policy panel || Bolt increases fares in Kenya || Kenyan regulator wants details of crypto users