E-Business
African Start-ups Bag $195m in Funding for 2017

Funding in African tech start-ups has surged 51% to reach $195 million in 2017 as compared to figures of same period in 2016.
This is according to a newly released report from African entrepreneurship news portal, Disrupt Africa. The Disrupt Africa Tech Start-ups Funding Report 2017 states that the record amount of funding was secured over the course of 2017, by the highest number of start-ups to date in the same period.
Gabriella Mulligan, co-founder of Disrupt Africa, says the firm is proud to document the rise of the African ecosystem. “More start-ups were given more funding than ever before. There can be no clearer validation of the quality of innovation and businesses being built from within Africa.”
According to the report, which is in its third year of publication – tech ventures in the region raised an estimated $129 million in 2016, while 125 tech start-ups managed collect $186 million in 2015.
“The number of African tech start-ups to raise funding hit 159 – up from 146 companies in 2016 and 125 in 2015. South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya proved to be the top three destinations for tech investors in 2017, both in terms of numbers of deals and total amount of funding, although, for the first time since tracking began, the amount of funding secured by Nigerian start-ups overtook SA,” noted the report.
Fintech ventures proved to be the most popular yet again, with 45 start-ups raising an estimated third of the total funding figure for 2017. In 2016, the sector raised 24% ($31.4 million) of the overall funding. The e-commerce sector saw the biggest percentage growth as compared to the previous year – leaping 350% to raise $16.7 million while agri-tech also gained some traction.
Roger Bezuidenhout, head of marketing at SNAPnSAVE – a local cashback coupon app start-up that received R14 million in funding last year – says the increase in funding is an indication that investors are starting to understand the African market better.
“The market is definitely not getting any easier to navigate, I would say investors are getting a better grip on the African market and are better able to see opportunity as well as guide start-ups better.
The start-up market is tough and investors want to see things are working and the people in charge or founders, have the attitude and skills to take their money and grow it. We are no longer competing just locally or regionally, we are competing globally and that means we need to keep up and adapt.”
Dr Sumarie Roodt, chairperson and director of Silicon Cape, adds that it is encouraging to see a decline in hesitation to invest in Africa, “It is encouraging to see that venture capitals are more open to investing in Africa and are relooking at their investment strategies for the continent,” she says.
“There is, however, always room for improvement especially when it comes to diversity issues. As much as there is a massive growth in funding, we need to take a closer look and any of the start-ups are 100% female owned or if there is a fair representation of people of colour and so forth.”
E-Business
Attackers Target Employees with Fake HR Updates

Kaspersky has identified an advanced phishing campaign targeting employees with personalised emails and attached documents disguised as HR policy updates.
This campaign marks a significant escalation in phishing tactics, with attackers tailoring not only the email body, but also the attachments by addressing individual recipients, showcasing an unprecedented level of customisation. The goal was to lure the victim into entering their corporate email credentials.
The attackers likely prepared by parsing employee names to make the campaign targeted and more convincing.
The emails feature a deceptive body: a fraudulent “verified sender” badge to build trust, the recipient’s name, and an invitation to open the attached file to review remote work protocols, benefits administration and security standards. However, the whole email body is in reality just an image with no real text in it; this is done to bypass email filters.
The attached document, posing as an updated “Employee Handbook,” does not contain any actual guidelines – only a title page, a table of contents with the items that have supposedly been changed highlighted in red, a page with a QR code, supposedly for going to the full document and common instructions on how to read QR codes using a phone. The document features the victim’s name multiple times to convince that this document was created specifically for them.
If the victim scans the QR code and follows the link, they land on a fraudulent page where they are asked to enter their corporate credentials, which is what the attackers are hunting for.
“This campaign demonstrates a new level of sophistication in phishing attacks, and we may be seeing a new mailing automation mechanism that generates a separate attached document and a separate image for the email body for each recipient.
“This tactic allows to scale the attack and at the same time possibly evade traditional defenses. Organisations must prioritise advanced security measures and employee education to stay ahead of these threats,” comments Roman Dedenok, Anti-Spam Expert at Kaspersky.
E-Business
Temu Joins INTA to Combat Counterfeits and Elevate IP Standards Worldwide

Temu, the global online marketplace, has joined the International Trademark Association (INTA) as a corporate member and serves on its Anti-Counterfeiting Committee.
INTA is a global association that brings together more than 6,700 organizations, representing over 37,000 trademark professionals and brand owners across 181 countries. By joining INTA, Temu deepens its commitment to building a trusted online marketplace and advancing global IP protection through broader, cross-industry collaboration.
“INTA welcomes TEMU’s willingness to engage in anticounterfeiting initiatives, including in the Association’s annual Anticounterfeiting Workshop and Online Takedown Certificate Program which serve to share best practices and connect stakeholders,” said Alastair Gray, Director of Anti-Counterfeiting, INTA. “Constructive collaboration with these efforts can contribute to the protection of intellectual property rights for INTA members and support the removal of counterfeit products from the platform which ultimately protects consumers.”
At the 2025 INTA Annual Meeting held in San Diego in May, Temu participated in the Anti-Counterfeiting Committee Roundtable, serving as a moderator to facilitate discussions among brand owners, online platforms, and government officials on emerging technologies, best practices for collaboration, and strategies to strengthen global anti-counterfeiting efforts.
“Joining INTA and serving on its Anti-Counterfeiting Committee reflects Temu’s ongoing commitment to ensuring a trustworthy online shopping experience,” said a Temu spokesperson. “We value collaboration with industry peers and stakeholders and are dedicated to advancing collective efforts in intellectual property protection.”
Temu also participates in INTA-led online workshops, including the Online Platform Notice and Takedown Certification Program, which outlines the latest procedures and best practices used by e-commerce platforms and social media companies. These workshops aim to enhance the quality and accuracy of rights-holder notices, promoting more effective takedown processes and content moderation.
Since launching in 2022, Temu has made significant investments in IP enforcement. Its measures include comprehensive seller vetting and compliance training, 24/7 algorithmic monitoring with manual review, a dedicated IP protection portal and brand registry to streamline takedown submissions, and an internal enforcement team that handles claims with speed and accuracy.
E-Business
Huawei Unveils AI Computing System to Challenge Nvidia’s Flagship Product

China’s Huawei Technologies unveiled an AI computing system on Saturday that an industry expert said rivals Nvidia’s most advanced product, as the company aims to expand its footprint in the country’s booming AI sector.
The CloudMatrix 384 system made its public debut at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), a three-day event in Shanghai, attracting a large crowd to Huawei’s booth with its showcase of cutting-edge AI innovations.
The system has attracted significant interest from the global AI community since Huawei (HWT.UL) first introduced it in April. Industry analysts see it as a direct challenger to Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72, the most advanced system-level offering currently available from the U.S. chipmaker.
In an April article, Dylan Patel, founder of semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis, stated that Huawei now possesses AI system capabilities that could surpass those of Nvidia.
Huawei staff at its WAIC booth declined to comment when asked to introduce the CloudMatrix 384 system.
A spokesperson for Huawei did not respond to questions.
Huawei has become widely regarded as China’s most promising domestic supplier of chips essential for AI development, even though the company faces U.S. export restrictions.
Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang told Bloomberg in May that Huawei had been “moving quite fast” and named the CloudMatrix as an example.
The CloudMatrix 384 system features 384 of Huawei’s latest 910C chips and, according to SemiAnalysis, surpasses Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72 in certain performance metrics, despite the latter using 72 B200 chips.
SemiAnalysis attributes this performance advantage to Huawei’s strong system design, which offsets the lower power of individual chips by leveraging a greater number of them and incorporating system-level innovations.
Huawei describes the system as utilizing a “supernode” architecture that enables ultra-high-speed interconnectivity between chips.
In June, Zhang Pingan, CEO, Huawei Cloud confirmed that the CloudMatrix 384 was already operational on Huawei’s cloud platform.
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