Welcome to the first edition: the stories shaping Kenyan tech this season, from a shake-up in Africa's funding league table to M-Pesa's biggest platform overhaul yet. A fresh digest lands here every evening at 9.
Kenya raised $126 million in H1 2026 — its weakest half since early 2021 — falling behind Egypt ($327M) and Nigeria ($254M) after leading the continent with $984 million in 2025. Africa: The Big Deal data points to investor caution after shutdowns including Koko Networks, Lipa Later, and Ilara Health, with VCs pressing founders on paths to profitability.
Source: Business Daily Africa
From 7 August: Pochi transactions to KSh 200 free, Buy Goods free threshold doubled to KSh 500 (0.55% above, capped at KSh 200), and till transfers down up to 50% — aimed at MSMEs and aligned with CBK pricing principles.
The draft policy — a National AI Steering Committee, a Kenya AI Safety Institute, a public registry, and AI in Kenyan languages — closed comments on 4 August and now moves toward Cabinet approval alongside the AI Bill in Parliament.
Safaricom's in-app stock trading, built with Kestrel Capital, lets users buy NSE shares without a brokerage account — quickly hitting ~40% of trades. The NSE targets 9 million retail investors by end of 2029.
Cloud-native with AI fraud detection, capacity up from 4,500 to 6,000 transactions per second (scalable to 12,000). M-Pesa earned KSh 161.1B in FY2025 — 44% of Safaricom's service revenue — holding ~90.8% of Kenya's digital payments.
The board and management met 20 August to review delivery risks across public Wi-Fi, institutional connectivity, and digital skills programmes — with a focus on resilience, accountability, and faster delivery.