CDP Institute

Microsoft has entered a “multi-year strategic alliance” with Oyo to work with the Indian startup to co-develop “next-generation” travel and hospitality products and tech. As part of this alliance, OYO will develop Smart Room experiences for travelers on the OYO platform using Microsoft’s Azure IoT.

Cloud computing infrastructure firm Linode is tripling its data centre capacity in India. The company expects a 200% increase in capacity at Mumbai facilities, which will sustain its momentum around customer acquisition and new service launches through 2023.

Forrester’s CX Index benchmarked the CX quality of 29 brands across four industries. In 2021, all three components of CX quality — effectiveness, ease of use, and emotion — were found to be negatively affected. Only 4 out of 29 brands managed to significantly improve their CX scores.

Salesforce’s customer relationship management solutions are empowering AlMalki Group, a Saudi-based family-owned business, which specializes in the luxury retail and distribution market, to digitally transform the GCC’s $29 billion e-commerce market. AlMalki Group represents more than 105 international brands both online and in boutiques.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation has tied up with eCommerce platform EasyStore to help Malaysian businesses expand into Taiwan. The online sales campaign aims to support at least 800 local businesses to increase their sales by at least 30% and gain significant brand exposure in Taiwan. MDEC and EasyStore are working closely with the Commerce Development Research Institute of Taiwan to offer a kickstarter programme to participating local online businesses to introduce their brands and market their offerings to new market segments in Taiwan.

Buy now pay later (BNPL) platform in Asia, Atome, has launched Atome+, its in-app loyalty rewards program, in Singapore. Atome allows shoppers to split their purchases into three interest-free installments at different stores. Through Atome+, shoppers will be earning points for purchases made using Atome across online and offline retailers in Singapore. These points can be redeemed against further purchases at selected merchants, including LEGO, Kinohimitsu, PEDRO, and Melissa, or to offset future transactions.

Carsome Group has bagged US$170 million in Series D2 round of funding, bringing the company’s valuation to US$1.3 billion. This is complemented by new credit facilities of US$30 million, bringing total funds raised to US$200 million. The latest round aims to empower its strategic focus on the growth and expansion of its B2C business, as well as boost its capabilities in strategic investments and mergers and acquisitions.

The forecast: Next year, more than half (51.1%) of retail ecommerce sales in Latin America will take place on mobile devices for the first time—a figure equal to $75.65 billion. From 2016 to 2019, mobile’s share of retail ecommerce sales in Latin America about doubled from 20.9% to 40.2%.

Agibank has announced that after 20 years as a financial institution, it has evolved into Agi, a super app ecosystem that distributes Agibank products and services as well as products from other banks. This is the brainchild of Founder and CEO Marciano Testa who evolved the company into one of Brazil’s largest neobanks.

Founded in July 2019, Mexico City-based Flat.mx started out with a model similar to that of Opendoor, buying properties, renovating them and then reselling them. Flat.mx is growing sales by 70% quarter-over-quarter and has increased its inventory by 10x over the last year, according to its founders. It has also nearly tripled its headcount from 30 at the middle of last year to over 85 today.

Autochek, a Nigerian automotive online marketplace, announced that it has purchased Cheki Kenya and Cheki Uganda from Ringier One Africa Media (ROAM) for an unspecified sum. The company had previously acquired Cheki Nigeria and Ghana as part of its West African launch.

Safaricom’s flagship mobile money platform M-Pesa has hit 50 million active customers in Africa, boosting its position as the continent’s largest fintech company.  M-Pesa is run by Safaricom and Vodacom and is now available in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Ghana and Egypt. It provides customers with access to the widest agent network across the continent with more than 430,000 agent outlets and cashless payments in more than 400,000 businesses.