TGIF.
A German food-delivery giant just got swallowed by Uber, a Lagos tax bill is quietly rewriting how Nigeria taxes digital income, and China wants the world’s AI rulebook written in Shanghai. Also: Nigeria tops Africa on responsible AI, a rent app for Nigerian salary earners just landed, and a data centre operator crossed $380 million because everyone suddenly needs somewhere to put their AI workloads. It’s a lot. Let’s get into it. 👇
In this edition
- The Selar–LIRS tax fight that could redefine "royalty" income
- Uber's $14.8B bid for Delivery Hero, China's AI diplomacy push
- Emirates NBD, Bitget, Mastercard x Flash, Klump x Jumia & more
- Tagon, MyKreeb's Hompurse, Stellarix, and Raxio's $380M raise
- Nigeria tops Africa on responsible AI, telecom & trade deals
- Deep dive: what businesses borrow when AI acts without consent
- Who's hiring this week
Nigeria · Tax & Policy
Selar's tax bill is the headline. The bigger story is what it could change.
What happened: Selar founder Douglas Kendyson went public this week over a demand from the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) for a backdated 5% tax, after LIRS classified part of the company’s revenue as “royalty” income. Kendyson says Selar mostly earns from transaction commissions, subscription fees and FX spreads — not royalties.
Why it matters: On paper this is one company’s tax dispute. Underneath, it’s a stress test for Nigeria’s Tax Act 2025, which took effect in January and redefined what counts as royalty income. A single digital platform can process payments, sell subscriptions, license software and pay out creators all at once — and how that revenue gets classified could shape tax assessments for every SaaS company, marketplace and creator platform in the country.
Zoom out: Neither side has confirmed a resolution. If Selar wins, expect it to become the reference case for how digital revenue is taxed going forward. If LIRS’s reading holds, a lot of founders are about to be reviewing their books.
Global Tech & Business
Uber makes a $14.8B bid for Delivery Hero
Uber has formally launched a $14.8 billion all-cash takeover of German food-delivery giant Delivery Hero — a deal that would create the largest food-delivery platform outside China, spanning 99 countries with a projected $236 billion in gross merchandise value. Delivery Hero will divest operations in 14 markets to clear regulatory hurdles, and Uber has pledged €2 billion in Germany through 2031. Prosus, a major shareholder, has already agreed to tender its stake.
Nvidia expands into robotics through new Japan partnerships
Apple clears a major hurdle as China approves Apple Intelligence
UAE's e& to sell its entire Vodafone stake to Xavier Niel's vehicle
Microsoft's Daryl Willis joins African Energy Week 2026 lineup
Emirates NBD goes live with real-time blockchain USD payments
Also in payments this week
Bitget launches Cash Plus: A yield-bearing product letting users earn on idle USDT/USDC while keeping instant liquidity — backed by a $10M promotional challenge.
Mastercard x Flash team up in the DRC: Congolese fintech Flash will issue prepaid Mastercard cards through its super app, tapping a network of 4,000+ agents to bridge cash and digital payments.
Klump brings instalment payments to Jumia: Nigerian shoppers can now split purchases at checkout via Klump’s BNPL infrastructure, live on Jumia Nigeria.
SunFintech partners with Flutterwave: A new tie-up aimed at expanding cross-border payment rails across African markets.
Flutterwave partners with Xoom: PayPal’s remittance arm links up with Flutterwave to widen money-transfer routes into Africa.
stc pay Bahrain x PIE launch QR paymentsL A new QR integration rolls out across Bahrain’s POS network.
Omobio signs exclusive A2P deal with Moov Africa MalitelL Aimed at securing and monetising international SMS traffic while cutting fraud in Mali’s messaging ecosystem.
Red Partners
Red Partners is Villpress’s premium brand visibility program, helping businesses, founders, and organizations amplify their stories through trusted editorial and newsletter placements that strengthen brand credibility and reach a community of professionals, innovators, founders, and decision-makers across Africa.
Tagon wants to be the logistics layer for Nigerian businesses
Tagon isn’t a courier — it’s the plug that lets businesses tap multiple logistics providers through one integration instead of juggling separate courier relationships. “Logistics should be an enabler of growth, not a bottleneck,” says founder Israel Abiona, who’s positioning the startup as infrastructure for Africa’s underutilised delivery capacity.
MyKreeb launches Hompurse to fix Africa's rent problem
Salaries land monthly, rent lands as a lump sum once a year — that mismatch is what MyKreeb’s new Hompurse app is built to solve, letting salary earners auto-save toward rent, earn rewards, and access financing if they fall short. “The biggest problem with rent isn’t finding a house, it’s keeping it,” says co-founder Ishaq Willson.
Also worth knowing
Stellarix secures triple ISO certification: A signal the firm is doubling down on security, quality and process compliance as it scales.
Read Full Story
Raxio Group crosses $380M in committed capitalShareholders Meridiam and Roha boosted their stakes as Africa’s data centre operator reports a sixfold surge in contracted power capacity in H1 2026, proof that AI workloads are now driving real infrastructure money on the continent.
Read Full Story
Policy, Telecoms & Trade
Nigeria tops Africa in the 2026 Global Index on Responsible AI
Policy, Telecoms & Trade
Villpress Intelligence · Deep Dive
When AI breaks trust: the hidden risk of deploying it without consent
Who's Hiring
Alpha Morgan Bank — open roles listed on their careers portal.
See the listing →
Know a role we should feature next week? Email us at editor@villpress.com
That’s the Signal for this week. Have a story we missed, a hot tip, or feedback on the format? We’re all ears. Email us at editor@villpress.com
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Have a great weekend. See you next week. 👋
— The Villpress Team
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