Category: Startups
Nigeria’s Prospa gets $3.8M pre-seed to offer small businesses banking and software services
In Nigeria, there are more than 40 million micro-businesses underserved in some form or another regarding banking services. Although some of these businesses have registered bank accounts, gaps exist in how banks use the data available to serve the needs of each business. With banks, presenting a series of transactions as…
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Indonesia-focused Intudo Ventures closes $115M third fund
Intudo Ventures, the “Indonesia-only” investment firm, announced today it has closed its third fund, totaling $115 million. Called Intudo Ventures Fund III, it was raised in less than three months and oversubscribed. Fund III’s limited partners include Black Kite Investments, the family office of Singaporean businessman Koh Bon Hwee; Wasson…
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UK’s Marshmallow raises $85M on a $1.25B valuation for its more inclusive, big-data take on car insurance
Marshmallow — a U.K.-based car insurance provider that has made a name for itself in the market by providing a new approach to car insurance aimed at using a wider set of data points and clever algorithms to net a more diverse set of customers and provide more competitive rates…
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5 factors that can make or break a startup’s growth journey
Brian Rothenberg Contributor Brian Rothenberg is a partner at Defy, a two-time former founder and growth executive. The “health” of a startup’s growth can be a strong predictor of how large and valuable it can become. Our generation’s most valuable startups have all sustained a high rate of user/revenue growth…
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Sequoia Heritage, Stripe and others invest $200M in African fintech Wave at $1.7B valuation
Francophone Africa has its first unicorn, and if you’ve been following tech on the continent, you will be very unsurprised to hear that it’s coming from the world of fintech. Wave, a U.S. and Senegal-based mobile money provider, has raised $200 million in Series A round of funding. The investment…
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Financial comparison “super app” Jeff raises $1.5M seed extension
Financial services, especially those for people who don’t have access to traditional bank accounts or lines of credit, are proliferating in Southeast Asia. Jeff App wants to give consumers a “super app” where they can compare many financial products and apply for them using the startup’s proprietary data-scoring models. For…
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