👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Equity, but make it liquid

In partnership with

Lire en Français

اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية

**Good morning. **

This week, Pesa, CredPal, Bamboo, AfriChange, Tech Safari, and Àngeles Sostenibles are hiring. Head over to our job board to find opportunities.

**Another reminder: **Moonshot 2026 is now five days away, and all tickets are still 30% off until October 24.Get your Moonshot ticket now.

One more thing: we’re still collecting feedback on TC Daily. Tell us what you love, what you skip, and what you want more of. Share your thoughts here.

Read smart insights about Francophone Africa’s tech ecosystem—weekly.

Subscribe

• Flutterwave lets employees borrow against equity
• CANAL+’s MultiChoice problem
• South Africa wants telcos sharing
• Who secured the bag?
• World Wide Web 3
• Job Openings

companies

Flutterwave employees can now borrow against their shares

Flutterwave chief executive officer Olugbenga Agboola. Image Source: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images.

Startup shares can make employees and early investors look rich on paper. But that wealth is usually locked up until the company is sold or someone else agrees to buy the shares. Flutterwave, Africa’s largest payment company, is trying to give some shareholders another way to get cash out of their paper wealth without selling the shares.

What happened? Flutterwave has partnered with Techdollar, a US-based private-credit startup, to let its employees borrow money using their Flutterwave shares as collateral. Shareholders keep their shares while borrowing against their value.

Explain like I’m new here: Startup employees are sometimes paid partly in equity, particularly at young companies. That means someone who joined early can end up owning shares that are worth a lot on paper as the company raises money and its valuation climbs. Normally, if a shareholder wants to turn those shares into cash, they need a buyer. This can happen through a secondary share sale, where another investor buys shares directly from an existing shareholder and the shareholder gets cash.

When Nigerian fintech Moniepoint raised $110 million in 2024, at least two senior employees sold portions of their shares, receiving $850,000 and $20,000 respectively. Flutterwave’s arrangement with Techdollar is different.

How does it work? The shareholder pledges eligible Flutterwave shares as collateral and receives a loan from Techdollar. They own the shares, but the lender has a claim on them if the borrower fails to repay.

Why it matters? Flutterwave’s $3.25 billion valuation gives the arrangement some serious numbers to play with. For employees, the access to cash now without giving up exposure to how big Flutterwave grows is an appeal.

Upgrade your business today

Pay with OPay is live on Fincra. Customers approve payments straight from their OPay wallet, and you get confirmation back on your site. Available now for NGN collections!Upgrade your business today with Fincra pay with opay. ****

companies

CANAL+ gets bigger, but MultiChoice is still shrinking

Image source: Tenor

CANAL+ is now a much bigger company because it owns MultiChoice. The awkward part is that the business it bought is still getting smaller where it matters most.

What happened? MultiChoice revenue fell 3% on a like-for-like basis in the nine months to September, dragged down by lower subscription income in South Africa. Reported revenue still rose 0.4% to €1.81 billion ($2.03 billion), but that increase came largely from favourable currency movements rather than stronger underlying performance.

There was some improvement. The decline slowed to 2% in the third quarter from 3.4% in the first half. CANAL+ cautioned that easier comparisons with last year’s sports calendar also helped, so it is too early to credit the turnaround.

Explain like I’m new here: CANAL+ completed its takeover of MultiChoice because it wanted scale across Africa, but the two businesses entered the deal from very different positions. CANAL+’s operations outside MultiChoice are still growing strongly in French-speaking Africa. MultiChoice, by contrast, is dealing with falling subscription revenue in its biggest market.

CANAL+ has started responding. In September, DStv launched several unbundled packages in South Africa, after shutting down Showmax in April. The group is also spending on sports rights, including UEFA club competitions and the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

Between the lines: CANAL+’s strongest African business and its newest acquisition are moving in opposite directions. Revenue from its Africa and Asia operations, excluding MultiChoice, grew 10.2% like-for-like, helped by French-speaking Africa. MultiChoice declined.

CANAL+ is targeting €250 million ($281 million) in synergies, but cutting duplicated costs can only do so much. If fewer South Africans pay for DStv, the group eventually has to fix demand, not just expenses.

What to watch: Subscriber numbers. CANAL+ did not disclose them this quarter. Sports rights, unbundled packages, and more content sound promising, but the proof of a turnaround will be whether DStv can keep more customers and stabilise subscription revenue.

Ten years of telling African tech stories.

Class of 2016, stand up! Meet the storytellers behind a decade of storytelling for African tech. 230+ startups, VCs, and more. From first cheques to unicorns. Have a story to tell? Let’s make it count. #TheWimbarts

telecoms

South Africa asks ICASA to rewrite telecom infrastructure sharing rules

Image Source: Tenor

Building a telecom network is expensive, and building one next to an existing network can be redundant. South Africa wants to make it easier for operators to share the on-ground infrastructure.

What happened? Solly Malatsi, South Africa’s communications minister, has asked the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the country’s communications regulator, to rewrite its rules for how telecom companies share infrastructure.

Explain like I’m new here: South Africa already has rules for infrastructure sharing, but the framework was introduced in 2010 and has not kept pace with the industry. The government says the framework needs to be updated to reflect how the telecoms market works.

Why it matters: In July, operators told ICASA that getting wayleaves (permission to use public land or existing infrastructure for network deployment) can take 6–12 months in some municipalities. This can slow fibre expansion, mobile network upgrades, and make network expansion more complicated.

What’s changing? ICASA is being asked to speed up leasing negotiations and create a clearer process for resolving disputes between operators and other parties, including landowners. It will also be expected to build a central map of the country’s telecoms infrastructure. Operators would provide information on fibre routes, ducts, poles, and base stations, giving the regulator a better picture of what infrastructure already exists and where new networks are being planned.

What happens next? The regulator has to work through the policy direction and develop the new rules. It is expected to publish final rapid-deployment regulations during the 2026/2027 financial year. If the new framework works as intended, operators should have a clear route to accessing existing infrastructure and fewer deployment delays.

Don’t miss Moonshot 2026 for anything in the world!

True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Join us on October 28 & 29, 2026. Get your ticket.

insights

funding tracker

Image Source: TechCabal Insights.

Aqar Exit, an Egyptian proptech startup, raised $183,000 in funding from Ayman Mamdouh Abbas, executive chairman of Intro Holding Group. (Oct 22)

Here are the other deals for the week:

• Tactful AI, an Egyptian AI startup, raised an

  undisclosed amount

  of funding from Hatem Dowidar. (Oct 19)

• ChipChip, an Ethiopian agritech startup, secured an

  undisclosed

  investment from Proparco’s Digital Africa. (Oct 19)

• Neural Labs Africa, a Kenyan healthtech startup, secured

  $5,000

  in funding from Mata AI. (Oct 19)

• Me-Nasoma, a Kenyan AI startup, secured

  $5,000

  in funding from Mata AI. (Oct 19)

• Irrisol Engineering, a Ugandan cleantech startup, secured an

  undisclosed

  investment from Nordic Impact Funds. (Oct 20)

That’s all for this week. **Africa’s unemployment rate was 6.3% in 2025, yet more than a third of employed Africans live in working poverty. **Find out why here.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements.

CRYPTO TRACKER

The World Wide Web3

Source:

Coin Name

Current Value

Day

Month

Bitcoin $81,465

– 1.63%

– 6.55%

Ether $2,390

– 2.19%

– 14.03%

XRP $1.31

– 2.20%

– 19.85%

Solana $103.84

– 1.51%

– 13.17%

* Data as of 05.59 AM WAT, October 23, 2026.

JOB OPENINGS

• CredPal — Credit Underwriter — Lagos, Nigeria

• Sparkle Nigeria —

  Business Growth Manager

  — Lagos, Nigeria

• Tech Safari

  —

  Content Lead

  — Nairobi, Kenya, and Abuja, Nigeria (remote, anywhere in Africa)

• Pesa — Social & Influencer Marketing Manager — Remote (Nigeria)

• Bamboo

  —

  Product Manager (Misan)

  — Hybrid (Lagos, Nigeria)

• Àngeles Sostenibles — Operations Associate — Abuja, Nigeria

• Coinomad

  —

  Sales Manager, Business Development Manager

  — Nigeria

• Sumsub

  —

  Senior Anti-Fraud Analyst

  — Remote (anywhere)

• AfriChange

  —

  Compliance Specialist

  — Remote (Nigeria)

• Scouthappy

  —

  Growth Lead for Fintech (Stocks)

  — Remote (Nigeria)

• Daya

  —

  Growth Product Manager (Daya Coins)

  — Remote (Nigeria)

• Qore

  —

  Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Manager

  — Lagos, Nigeria

• Afreximbank

  —

  Student and Postgraduate Internship

  — Cairo, Egypt

Looking for more opportunities? There are additional openings on TechCabal’s job board. We’ve also cleared out outdated listings to keep opportunities fresh for job seekers. If you’re hiring and would like to feature an open role, please submit it via this form.

• Spend first, measure later: Inside African banking’s AI boom
• One platform, many realities: Yango’s playbook for scaling across Africa
• Opinion: Africa’s stablecoin promise breaks at the off-ramp

Written by: Emmanuel Nwosu and Yemi Kareem

Edited by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade

Want more of TechCabal?

Sign up for our insightful newsletters on the business and economy of tech in Africa.

• The Next Wave

  : futuristic analysis of the business of tech in Africa.

• Francophone Weekly by TechCabal

  : insider insights and analysis of Francophone’s tech ecosystem

P:S If you’re often missing TC Daily in your inbox, check your Promotions folder and move any edition of TC Daily from “Promotions” to your “Main” or “Primary” folder and TC Daily will always come to you.