Breaking News Today – Tuesday 24 March 2026

African Start-up News Headlines:

• A strong rebound in African start-up funding, has been reported in February 2026, with a rebound to $272 million across 40+ deals. This was up a significant 56% from the January 2026 total. Early 2026 totals now exceed $446, with momentum of funding deals shifting toward logistics, energy, mobility, and climate tech sectors with a welcome shift away from pure fintech dominance. Large funding rounds like Solara Africa ($94M), Spiro ($57M), and Breadfast ($50M) are examples of the year’s current positive trajectory.

• Angola’s New Startup Law Making Waves: Angola’s new Startup Act, has introduces a $3.5 million revenue cap for qualifying startups, launching a “Startup Seal” certification to identify start-ups in this category. This is being positioned as a bold move to build a sovereign digital economy and position Luanda as an emerging tech hub in Southern Africa / SADC region.
• Newly launched Veta Origin, an African-focused AI startup, has reportedly turned down a $500,000 investment from a US venture firm. The founders reportedly prioritised building and deploying AI solutions tailored for African users first, before accepting foreign capital. This story is being praised as a stand for “Africa-first” development in the AI space.

Business News Today 

African Airlines Get Passenger Boost

While global disruptions continue across air transport, due to the Iran -US conflict, for most African airlines the acute phase of new flight suspensions appears to have passed. Instead, Kenya Airways reported a surge in ticket demand from passengers yesterday with high demand on its routes, especially to Europe, US, and Asia. This has become a trend with travellers are rerouting away from disrupted Gulf hubs. The airline is benefiting from the chaos rather than adding new suspensions. Earlier in the crisis (late February/early March), Kenya Airways had suspended flights to Dubai and Sharjah, but those appear to have been resolved or adjusted as capacity returns via alternative routings.

While Middle East carriers and European flights continue to face cancellations, for African Airlines this has come as a bonus. The focus is now on fuel-price spikes and ticket price inflation. Ethiopian Airlines (Africa’s largest carrier) has seen mixed effects: some routes are reported being fuller due to rerouting, but it has also cancelled dozens of Middle East flights and reported significant losses (around $137 million early in the crisis). Other African airlines are mostly dealing with higher fuel costs and surcharges rather than demand windfalls.

SA Bonds Ease off Highs

South Africa’s 10-year bond yield eased to around 8.9%, down from six-month highs of 9.20% hit on March 20, as global markets calmed after US President Trump claimed that the US and Iran have held “very good and productive conversations” over an end to the conflict. Tensions in the Middle East, particularly the escalating Iran conflict targeting key energy infrastructure, have been driving volatility in energy prices, fueling inflation concerns and dampening expectations for interest rate cuts. South Africa’s headline inflation fell for the second consecutive month to 3% in February, reaching the central bank’s new target.

However, this decline should be temporary, as elevated oil prices are expected to increase domestic fuel costs, and likely to spill over into the broader economy, pushing overall inflation higher in the coming months. The South African Reserve Bank meets this week Thursday, (March 26), and is expected to keep rates steady amid global economic uncertainties. The South African rand also responded and rose to around 16.7 per USD, moving off recent four-month lows of 17.2 per USD, although it has weakened again toward the 17.00 mark this morning.

Breaking Business and Market News Shorts:  

• A new, advanced iPhone hacking tool, called DarkSword, was discovered last week with a new version having been leaked by an unknown person on the code-sharing site GitHub. Researchers are warning that this will allow any hacker to easily use the tools to target iPhone users running older versions of Apple’s operating systems who have not yet updated to its latest iOS 26 software. 
• London’s Air Street Capital has raised a $232 million Fund III with prospects aimed at backing early-stage AI companies across Europe and North America. funding values have been touted as between $500,000 to $15 million, with select growth investments reaching up to $25 million in value
• The Bank of Mozambique maintained its main policy rate at 9.25% in March 2026, keeping it at its lowest level since December 2015 and pausing the easing cycle that began in 2024. The decision reflects rising external concerns regarding inflation expectations,
• Industrial production in Mauritius increased by 1.3% year-on-year in Q4 2025, picking up from an upwardly revised 1.2% rise in Q3. The expansion was driven by gains across all major sub-sectors, including manufacturing (+1.4%), electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning supply (+1.2%), mining and quarrying (+1.1%), and water supply and waste management (+1.1%). 
• Copper dropped below $5.4 per pound this morning, trimming gains from yesterday as hopes for a de-escalation in the Middle East conflict faded after Iran denied holding talks with the US to end the standoff. Tehran dismissed President Donald Trump’s announcement as an attempt to manipulate financial markets and launched new attacks on US targets, while Israel continued strikes against Iran.

Markets by Numbers 

Currency markets indicate the US dollar weakening against major currencies today. The Greenback is trading against the Euro at 1.15846 while trading against the Pound at 1.33936. The Yen is currently trading at 158.63 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR), has lost ground against the US dollar, and is currently trading at R16.93 against the US dollar almost -3% down in the last week.

Commodities:  

• Gold futures are trading -1.2% lower this morning, and currently at around $4351.00 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are trending -2% lower today, with prices currently around $5.3240 per pound
• Silver futures are trending over -2.6% lower today, and currently trading at around $67.308 per ounce.
• Platinum futures are trending -1.46% lower this morning, and currently trading at $1837.30, While Palladium prices have slid by more than -1% this morning, and currently trading around $1412.00 per ounce.
• Brent crude oil prices are have gained over 3% this morning after dropping below $100 yesterday, with prices currently at $103.14, and with WTI trading up over 3.5% at $91.11.
• Cocoa futures are trending lower, and down around -2.3% this morning, with prices currently trading around $3180 per ton. 
• Coffee futures are trending around -0.8% lower today, and trading at around $3.075 per pound

Crypto Currencies: 

• Bitcoin prices are trending 1.5% higher this morning, and trading at around $70 373 per coin currently 
• Ether prices are down around -0.7% today, and currently trading around $2136.27
• $Trumpcoin are currently trading lower at around $3.242

(All prices quoted at approximately 08H05 Central African Time) 

African General News Briefs:

• Starlink’s Licence application has been rejected in Namibia. The communications regulator said yesterday it had rejected a request for billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink to operate its satellite internet services in the country, dealing the company a second setback in Southern Africa.Starlink had applied for the licence through its local unit, Starlink Internet Services Namibia (Pty) Limited, the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) said in a government gazette. The regulator gave no explanation for the refusal, saying only that “the full reasons for the decision can be requested from the authority.”
• Two Russian citizens, are set to go on trial in Angola on charges of stirring up anti-government protests, conducting a campaign of disinformation, and attempting to influence the presidential election, due to be held in 2027. The two arrested last August, are political consultant Igor Ratchin and translator Lev Lakshtanov who are are facing 11 charges, including terrorism, espionage and influence peddling. Angolan President João Lourenço has pivoted focus towards the West, and has not met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin since 2019.
• Chad has begun the emergency relocation of around 2300 refugees from its border area with neighbouring Sudan. The army is preparing to ​deploy more troops to the area in response to cross-border attacks, an ‌official from the country’s refugee agency stated. Chad’s military presence at the Sudanese border had been strengthen over the last week in a build-up to possible operations.