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Victoria from Techpoint here,

Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

The telco just crossed the 24 million subscriber mark, and for the first time, it’s adding new users faster than industry giant Safaricom. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, Airtel picked up 3.01 million new SIM subscribers, nearly double Safaricom’s 1.7 million.

, according to new numbers from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). It’s a big milestone for a company that has long operated in Safaricom’s shadow. Safaricom, still the market leader by a wide margin, saw a 3.6% growth, bringing its total subscribers to 48.2 million.

. Kenya now has 76.2 million SIM subscriptions, up from 71.4 million at the end of 2024. That’s more SIM cards than people, but no surprise there, since many Kenyans use more than one line.

are holding their own too. Equitel ended Q1 with 1.5 million subscribers, Telkom with 1.2 million, and Jamii Telecommunications (JTL) with around 700,000. Still, Airtel’s surge is what’s turning heads.

, Ashish Malhotra, called it a moment of gratitude and determination. “This is not the destination,” he said, “it’s part of a longer journey.” He added that the company is still investing heavily in network upgrades and expansion, spurred on by pressure from regulators to boost coverage across the country.

, Safaricom isn’t exactly sweating yet. Its deep integration into Kenya’s mobile money economy, especially with M-Pesa, still gives it a major edge. For Airtel to truly shake the table, it’ll need more than just SIM growth. It needs serious ecosystem play.

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is switching things up in how early-stage African startups get funded. The global nonprofit just named five entrepreneur support organisations (ESOs) across Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania as venture partners in a new $4 million initiative. It’s part of a fresh fund called the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility (AECF), set up with backing from the Dutch development bank FMO and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.

Work with local organisations that already understand the terrain. So instead of trying to parachute in with generic solutions, Village Capital is betting on community-rooted groups like Ghana’s Reach for Change, Nigeria’s Africa Fintech Foundry and Fate Foundation, and Tanzania’s Anza Entrepreneurs and Ennovate Ventures to help find and back the right startups.

is targeting startups solving big challenges around climate resilience and economic mobility, two things that matter deeply across the continent right now. By partnering directly with ESOs, the goal is to close funding gaps at the early stage and make investment decisions that actually reflect local realities.

says Village Capital’s Nathaly Botero. “It’s about smarter investing by working with those who are already plugged into their communities.” It’s a big shift in strategy that gives ESOs more power as co-evaluators and ecosystem builders, not just gatekeepers.

builds on Village Capital’s growing presence in Africa. Just last year, it invested $850K in agritech startups Aquarech in Kenya and Coamana in Nigeria. And since 2009, it’s helped direct over $7 billion in capital to nearly 1,800 startups. With this latest move, they’re hoping to fund even more, but this time, with the help of those who know their communities best.

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is tired of seeing the same recycled memes and videos over and over again, and it’s finally doing something about it. On Monday, Meta announced that it’s cracking down on accounts that steal and repost content from others without adding anything original. If you’re caught doing that repeatedly, you could lose access to Facebook’s monetisation tools for a while, and your posts might not show up as often in people’s feeds.

. You’ve seen the same joke ten times in one day from ten different pages pretending they made it up,” Meta said (not in those exact words, but close 😂). The platform says it’s trying to clean up your feed and give fresh creators a chance to be seen. Because let’s be honest, the copy-paste game is getting a little out of hand.

when Facebook spots a video that’s been duplicated, it’ll show the original more and push the knock-offs way down or out of sight entirely. Meta’s also testing a way to link back to original creators, so credit finally goes where it’s due.

won’t roll out all at once. It’ll hit gradually over the next few months. There’s no word yet on whether similar rules will come to Instagram or Threads, but for now, Facebook’s leading the charge against recycled content.

is part of a bigger effort by Meta to make Facebook less spammy. The company says it’s already taken down half a million spammy or fake-engagement accounts in just the first half of 2025. YouTube is doing something similar, updating its policy to target repetitive, AI-generated content flooding the platform.

If you’re a creator who reposts content with your own spin — commentary, voiceover, edits, or a reaction — you’re safe. Facebook is going after “unoriginal content,” not remix culture. Just stay away from those obvious TikTok watermarks and do more than just hit reupload.

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Have a wonderful Wednesday!