FUNDING
HustleSasa draws a German investor as it grows beyond ticketing
The Nairobi creator-commerce platform closed a round led by Germany's Impacc — amount undisclosed — to push past event ticketing into payments, commerce and financing for organisers and creators. Founded in 2021 by Peng Chen and Michael Denuh, HustleSasa serves over 4,000 clients and has processed more than 520,000 tickets across Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa; earlier backers include Antler, Musha Ventures, Microtraction and Best Nights VC. Impacc's own maths for the bet: roughly one gig job supported for every 10 tickets sold.
The Kenyan Wall Street
GOVERNMENT
KRA waives penalties and interest over iTax downtime
After days of intermittent iTax disruption that blocked filing and payments — reported through 16 September, with the VAT deadline landing on the 20th — KRA says all penalties and interest accrued during the verified downtime will be waived under Section 89(5A) of the Tax Procedures Act. The concession follows a rough 2026 for the taxman's systems: the customs platform's 12-hour outage at a record-volume port was only days earlier, and the portal has stumbled repeatedly this year. Taxpayers do not need to apply; KRA says its technical teams will implement the waiver for the affected period.
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FINTECH
PAPSS volumes jump 1,000% as the pan-African rail turns to adoption
The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System says transaction volumes grew about 1,000% year on year, with values up roughly 120% — Nigeria alone up about 1,100% by volume. The network now spans more than 30 countries, 24 central banks (Kenya's among them), over 200 commercial banks and payment providers and 16 switches, and claims cost savings of 92-95% per transaction versus correspondent banking. CEO Mike Ogbalu III framed the first phase as building trust; the next, he says, is "activating that network" — with the COWRY 2026 gathering set for Addis Ababa in November.
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FINTECH
StanChart's dollar fund platform hits $20 million in four months
Standard Chartered Kenya's Signature Select — a CMA-approved variable capital company offering four strategies run with Allianz, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price and Pimco — has crossed US$20 million in assets under management since launch. The pitch targets Kenya's estimated 7,000 dollar millionaires and other sophisticated investors wanting offshore exposure without leaving a local wrapper; head of wealth and retail banking Edith Chumba calls the strategies the "foundation portfolio" layer. It is another data point in a year when dollar-denominated products and offshore access have been the retail wealth story.
The Kenyan Wall Street
GADGETS
Apple TV lands in Kenya — free inside iCloud+
Apple has folded Apple TV and Apple Arcade into iCloud+ in Kenya at no extra cost, from the $0.99 (about KSh 128) 50GB tier upwards — the first time Apple TV has been available in the country at all, part of a rollout that took the service into 59 new markets and 170 countries overall. Subscribers also get Family Sharing for up to five people and Apple Music Select stations. The catch: Apple TV and Arcade will no longer be sold standalone here once the rollout completes; existing standalone subscribers are converted to iCloud+ with progress preserved.
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AI
GSMA: the AI boom is making basic smartphones dearer — and Africa pays first
The GSMA's State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2026 report warns that AI-driven demand for memory and chipsets is pricing the poorest out of connectivity: memory prices more than doubled between Q3 2025 and Q1 2026, then rose another 80-90% in Q2. An entry-level smartphone now costs 76% of monthly income for the poorest in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3.4 billion people remain offline despite 90% living under mobile broadband coverage, and new users fell to 160 million in 2025 from 190 million. Director general Vivek Badrinath's warning: the real divide is not between countries but "between people who can afford to participate."
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