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: Kenya’s AT4D Launches $500,000 Fund to Back Assistive Technology Startups Across Africa
Kenya-based nonprofit, Assistive Technologies for Disability Trust (AT4D), has partnered with the Judith Neilson Foundation to launch a $500,000 investment fund designed to support early-stage assistive technology startups across Africa.
The initiative, known as the Momentous Pilot Fund, will focus on digital innovations that improve mobility, communication, inclusive education, independent living, and digital accessibility for people living with disabilities.
The fund aims to address a longstanding gap in the continent’s technology ecosystem, where startups building solutions for people with disabilities often struggle to secure early-stage financing despite growing demand for assistive technologies.
“This is the first fund on the continent dedicated to investing in emerging assistive technology start-ups at the early stage. The Momentous Fund allows us to test an investment model that centres lived experience while strengthening the ecosystem required to scale disability innovation across Africa,” said Bernard Chiira, CEO of AT4D.
“Many investors still associate disability innovations with charity and donations,” Harry Ochieng, investment manager at AT4D, said. “The Momentous Fund is an opportunity to change that narrative and demonstrate that this sector presents real opportunities for investment, impact, and sustainable returns.”
Other Tech News Stories You Should Read:
Atlancis, EverseTech, and iXAfrica Launches Servernah Cloud to Power Local AI Innovation in Kenya. Read now.
Denodo Introduces New Data Platform to Help Enterprises Scale Generative and Agentic AI. Read now.
Wadhwani AI Global and Smart Africa Partner to Advance Responsible AI Adoption Across Africa.Read now.
On Startup Spotlight:
RateGain and Juspay Partner to Launch RG Pay and Offer Scalable AI Payment Solutions for Travel Startups
Global travel technology firm, RateGain Travel Technologies Limited has partnered with payments infrastructure provider, Juspay to power RG Pay, an embedded financial technology platform designed for the travel and hospitality sector.
The collaboration aims to help travel businesses improve checkout conversions, support a broader range of local payment methods, and deliver smoother booking experiences for travellers around the world.
“We are excited to partner with RateGain to demonstrate how high-performance payment technology can co-create a new benchmark for the travel industry. RG Pay bridges the gap between institutional scale and the agility of modern technology, ensuring that hotels can offer the same seamless, secure checkout experience that the world’s largest digital enterprises rely on,” said Ishan Sharma, head of sales and business development at Juspay.
“By integrating Juspay’s globally scalable orchestration infrastructure and AI-powered routing intelligence into our ecosystem as a launch Partner, we are strengthening the foundation of payments in travel, aligning discovery, distribution, conversion, and transaction performance within a unified architecture for travel brands worldwide,” Parijat Tiwari, executive vice-president and general manager for distribution at RateGain, said.
Quadri Adejumo brings you all the details. Read here.
Also Read:
Pan-African Agridex Unveils ‘LOAM’ Neobank Platform to Transform Cross-Border Commodity Trade. 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
