Five innovative startups transforming Africa’s information landscape

Mediatech startups are companies that leverage technology to transform how information is created, distributed, and consumed across Africa. These ventures encompass platforms that enhance journalism infrastructure, streamline content distribution, improve audience analytics, and make information more accessible to underserved populations. As African startups raised $2.6 billion in 2024, representing a 40% increase from the previous year, the media tech sector has emerged as a critical piece of the continent’s digital transformation, addressing fundamental challenges around information access and credibility.

The importance of these startups cannot be overstated. Africa faces a 60% internet usage gap, with only 37% of the population online as of 2024, despite expanding mobile coverage. Traditional media infrastructure remains underdeveloped, particularly in rural areas where 77% of residents lack reliable internet access. Media tech startups are stepping into this void, using innovative distribution methods, mobile-first platforms, and digital preservation techniques to ensure information reaches communities that legacy media systems have historically neglected. From addressing the rotting of physical newspaper archives that threaten to erase historical records, to creating platforms that help African tech companies amplify their stories globally, these startups are building the information infrastructure the continent needs to participate fully in the global digital economy.

Beyond connectivity, these companies are tackling trust and sustainability challenges that plague African media. With mobile data costs averaging 4.2% of gross national income and limited consumer spending power across many African countries, media tech startups are developing solutions that work within these constraints while building financially viable models that don’t depend solely on donor funding. Their impact extends from preserving national histories and providing legal information to underserved communities to creating professional networks that connect Africa’s tech ecosystem with global opportunities.

1. African Legal Information Institute (AfricanLII): An open-access research platform for African law jointly operated by the AfricanLII programme of the University of Cape Town and Laws.Africa. AfricanLII uses technology to democratize access to African legal information by digitizing court judgments, legislation, and legal commentary from across the continent. The platform enhances the way journalists, researchers, and citizens access and understand legal developments, fostering transparency through an open-access digital infrastructure that makes the law more accessible to all.

It publishes up-to-date rulings from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and regional courts, including the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, COMESA Court of Justice, East African Court of Justice, and ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, with branches across African countries.

2. Archivi.ng: Archivi.ng is a digital media startup on a mission to digitize every edition of every newspaper published in Nigeria since independence in 1960. It launched The Archivist to use its treasure trove of historical data to provide insights on contemporary issues. The platform addresses a critical problem: Nigeria’s historical records are literally rotting away in poorly maintained archives, threatening to erase decades of the nation’s documented history. By scanning old newspapers and preserving them digitally, Archivi.ng has secured at least $190,000 in funding from public donations and non-profit grants. For example, one of The Archivist’s stories used the list of top secondary school students from 2009 to help explain brain drain in present times. Through feature articles, deep dives, and multimedia projects, the startup is reimagining how Nigerians understand their history and its connection to current challenges.

3. Track My Mayor: is a promise tracker aimed at increasing accountability at the local government level. It tracks the mayors of South Africa’s six biggest metros: Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay, and Tshwane. The platform was established with support from Code for Africa’s impactAFRICA fund.

4. TechPR Africa: TechPR Africa is an innovative mediatech platform that has fundamentally redesigned how businesses communicate across the African continent. Co-founded by Adegoke Oyeniyi and Opeyemi Aboaba in 2020, the company pivoted during the 2023 venture capital downturn, evolving from a Nigeria-focused startup into a pan-African technology infrastructure.
Under Adegoke’s visionary leadership, TechPR Africa pioneered a new category of mediatech startups in the region by replacing manual public relations agency work with a proprietary, automated press release distribution engine. The platform addresses the critical challenge of Africa’s fragmented media landscape—comprising 54 unique markets—by leveraging a curated database of verified media contacts and an intelligent localization engine. This technology allows international companies and home-based businesses to launch consistent, culturally nuanced campaigns across over 15 African countries with unprecedented speed and cost-efficiency.

5. Stears Business: Stears Business is a Nigerian data-driven information platform that has transformed from a digital publication into a powerhouse of B2B market intelligence. Founded in 2017 by Preston Ideh, Abdul Abdulrahim, Foluso Ogunlana, and Michael Famoroti, the company was born at the London School of Economics with a mission to solve Africa’s “data dearth.”

Under the visionary leadership of CEO Preston Ideh, Stears has mastered the art of the strategic pivot. Initially gaining fame for its high-quality analytical journalism and products like Nigeria’s first real-time election database in 2019, Ideh steered the company through the 2023 “funding winter” by transitioning from a consumer-facing model to an organization-focused intelligence firm.
This evolution—moving from news to license-based B2B solutions like predictive forecasts and macroeconomic datasets—has cemented its role as the “Bloomberg of Africa.” Ideh’s focus on depth and rigour over quantity allowed Stears to attract nearly $4 million in cumulative funding, including backing from high-profile investors like Serena Ventures. Today, Stears serves global giants such as the UNDP and Citibank, proving that high-quality African data is a critical commercial asset for international decision-makers.