Just like the number of startups appearing and investments being deployed, the number of online resources aimed at boosting Africa’s startup ecosystem is ever-growing. And luckily, that includes people who devote their time and energy to telling the stories of the entrepreneurs driving innovation with their startups in this highly diverse continent, from Algeria and Egypt to Namibia and South Africa.
In addition, there are many tech and business outlets. So which are the ones that focus entirely on the startup world? And with a continent so large, which are pan-African in their scope?
Here’s our selection of African startup mediaoutlets you should be following online.
VentureBurn
Based in South Africa, VentureBurn is an online tech publication that focuses on the African startup and technology space. Their content covers the latest in business, startups, and technology. The site offers everything from interviews with industry leaders to weekly startup events, a jobs board for techies, and an incubator for African entrepreneurs. Basically, if anything interesting happens in the startup scene, VentureBurn will report it in detail.
VentureBurn was founded in 2011 by Toby Shapshak, now a tech journalist for Forbes Africa, The Guardian (UK), Mail & Guardian (South Africa), and more. Check out one of his many TED Talks in which he unpacks some of the singularities of African innovation. VentureBurn’s founding editor, Andy Walker, has covered the space for 15 years, including as former editor of ITWeb’s Brainstorm magazine.
The website currently boasts 25 thousand subscribers and over 16 thousand Twitter followers. Their daily newsletter reaches an audience of over 6000 subscribers.
VentureBurn has been recognised as one of the top media outlets to follow in the African tech space by fellow tech media outlets such as TechCabal and Disrupt Africa (see below for more on them), Venture Capital Journal, and more.
Disrupt Africa
In the words of co-founder Tom Jackson, Disrupt Africa is the leading news and research resource for Africa’s technology startup ecosystem.
Founded in 2013 by Tom Jackson and Gabriella Mulligan, the company provides a comprehensive overview of the African tech startup ecosystem through its website, directory, and events.
The website publishes news on African startups, investors and tech hubs, while the Disrupt Africa Directory offers more extensive profiles on more than 1,700 startups operating across the continent. The African Tech Startups Funding Report has become an essential resource for those interested in funding trends in the African tech ecosystem. It also produces reports on the African tech startup investment landscape, runs events across the continent, and hosts various programmes that help startups gain valuable exposure. Disrupt’s extensive research offering is constantly expanding. Very handy, they also run a year-round calendar of events across the continent and report on events news.
Disrupt’s news and insight on the tech startup ecosystem in Africa is read every day by thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, tech professionals, and other stakeholders – their Twitter counts with 40k plus followers.
As a motivation for starting Disrupt Africa, Tom Jackson explained that the idea behind it was to help startups raise funding from investors in both Africa and around the world through its reports and highlight their achievements through its news coverage. We fully support these objectives!
TechCabal
TechCabal is a technology and business publication based in Lagos, Nigeria. Created in 2012 by Bankole Oluwafemi, the former editor of entertainment website, BellaNaija, TechCabal has since become one of Africa’s leading tech and business publications covering startups, internet companies, and technology, with a slightly broader spectrum of coverage. TechCabal’s mission is to change the narrative around African innovation by telling the stories that matter (in that case, we think they are succeeding).
TechCabal boasts 80k+ Twitter followers, and their sleek interface, visuals, and the way they do marketing makes it the most “user friendly” of the African startup outlets. They also frequently share infographic-style information and, of course, produce reports and other insights. In addition, TechCabal hosts several talks. Together with their thought leadership, it makes TechCabal one of the most complete African startup media outlets.
Techpoint Africa
Techpoint Africa is an online publication for African startups, innovators, and investors. The platform was launched in September 2015 by Adewale Yusuf, CEO of AltSchool Africa. Their mission is to provide a one-stop-shop for the latest news and information about the African tech scene.
The platform has a strong focus on Nigeria and covers other African countries like South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Egypt. Techpoint Africa provides information about local investors, startups, entrepreneurs, and tech events in Africa.
Notable mentions: TechCrunch and Quartz
It’s difficult to talk about startup media and not mention TechCrunch. Although not an African homegrown outlet, TechCrunch recently ramped up their coverage of the African continent. After appointing Tage Kene-Okafor, who also previously covered startups at Techpoint, as well as Annie Njanja, with a track record of covering business and technology stories and features for multiple international media houses, TechCrunch is now finally also offering a good glimpse into the African startup scene.
Quartz Africa is a subsection of Quartz that produces stories, insights, and a comprehensive email newsletter on African tech. Its emphasis on in-depth reporting and quality makes Quartz’s role in covering innovation in the African continent considerable. On the other hand, while the pieces are in-depth, it also means they can’t cover everything. Quartz doesn’t have thorough coverage of all the startup news, such as funding, and most of their content is gated (though worth it!).
Did we miss any of your favourites African startup media outlets? Let us know on our Twitter, we’d love to add it to our list!
