Hi, welcome to Tech This Evening, an After-Work Tech Newsletter from Techparley Africa. Sure, there is a lot to unpack right now. Sit back, while I walk you through.
Top Story: How Nathan Nwachuku is Building Africa’s Defence Technology Future Through Terra Industries
In an era where conversations around African innovation are often dominated by fintech and consumer technology, Nathan Nwachuku, the CEO of Terra Industries is charting a different path.
At an age when most teenagers are mapping out university pathways, Nathan Nwachuku made a decision that would define his trajectory. He left Carleton University at 17, stepping away from formal education to pursue a broader ambition centred on Africa’s technological future.
In 2024, Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka co-founded Terra Industries, a company positioning itself as Africa’s first defence prime, focused on developing and manufacturing advanced autonomous infrastructure protection and defence systems within the continent rather than rely on imports.
Today, as co-founder and chief executive of Terra Industries, Nwachuku sits at the forefront of a new wave of African founders attempting to localise advanced manufacturing and defence technology, a sector historically dominated by foreign suppliers.
“We need to protect Africa’s critical infrastructure from terrorist attacks. We have been a bit wary of calling ourselves a defence company, but now we’re doing it fully,” Nwachuku said.
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Ricursive Intelligence Raises $300m to Automate Chip Design with AI. Read now.
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On Startup Spotlight:
Stripe Explores Acquisition of PayPal – What This Means for African Fintech
Stripe Inc., the payments giant that acquired Nigerian fintech Paystack for over $200 million in 2020, is reportedly exploring a potential purchase of all or part of PayPal Holdings Inc.
The talks, which are still in their early stages, highlight Stripe’s ambitions to expand its footprint in global digital payments and reinforce its position as one of the world’s most valuable privately held fintech companies.
Founded in the late 1990s, PayPal was one of the first companies to establish a robust digital payments infrastructure. Founded by brothers Patrick Collison and John Collison, Stripe has emerged as one of the most valuable privately held companies in the fintech sector.
“PayPal has had, obviously, a tough time over the past few years and the landscape has changed quite a bit with Apple Pay and Google Pay and everything like that,” John Collison, Stripe’s president, said in an interview this week. “I can’t talk about any, you know, M&A hypotheticals but they’ve definitely had a tough time.”
Quadri Adejumo brings you all the details. Read here.
Also Read:
Qasatli Eyes 2027 IPO as It Seeks EGP 1 Billion to Accelerate Mortgage Expansion in Egypt. Yakub Abdulrasheed brings us the details, here.
Quote of the Day:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke.
Thank you for joining me yet again this evening. Stay safe, and see you tomorrow for the next tech newsletter.
Best, Quadri
