CDP Institute

Nearly one in every three Australian mid-tier credit unions, building societies and other institutions do not comply with open banking, while others that are compliant on paper have systems that do not work in practice.

CB Insights data indicates that despite rapid growth from 2015 to 2020, when Latin American fintechs raised $138 million and $3.14 billion, respectively, 2021 stands apart from other years in terms of growth. Both dollars and deals in the region are going to smash through 2020 and 2019’s superlatives, and indeed have already done so.

Business is booming in Latin America: Startups raised $9.3 billion in the first six months of 2021, and the region has produced a record number of unicorns, including Nubank, Rappi and iFood. The growth has caught the eyes and pockets of foreign investors, too, with SoftBank announcing its Latin America Fund II, committing $3 billion to tech companies there.

Cameroonian start-up Agrix Tech has developed a mobile app that helps farmers to prevent and treat crop diseases utilising machine learning technologies. Founded in August 2018, Agrix Tech is using mobile and machine learning technologies to overcome vital agricultural challenges on the continent.

Nigerian blockchain-based Wi-Fi sharing start-up Wicrypt has closed a strategic US$1.5 million funding round to help it expand into new countries. Wicrypt is a decentralised mobile internet sharing and monetisation network that allows anyone to get paid for sharing their Wi-Fi. Users download the Wicrypt app and provide Wi-Fi through their mobile device or by purchasing a unique, custom-built Wicrypt Hotspot Creator device.

Semicolon Africa, an ed-tech start-up, creating employment and economic opportunities by training software engineers and techpreneurs, has closed a US$1.2 million seed round of funding. Semicolon is focused on preparing young people and companies in Africa for the digital economy by providing the requisite technology skills for Africa’s growing tech industry. The round, which was oversubscribed, had participation from angels and VCs like Launch Africa Ventures and Consonance Investment Managers.

Snowflake, the Data Cloud company, has announced that its regional offices in Dubai, UAE, are now open for business. The launch in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META), is aimed at strengthening ties with regional partners and customers.

WebEngage, a full stack Retention Operating System, announces its expansion into the Middle East and Africa. The MarTech company has set up a dedicated local team for sales and customer success management in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait and Qatar markets.

Ticketek-owner TEG and Cricket Australia have announced a world first by merging fan data across ticketing, membership, merchandise and participation to create a comprehensive understanding of engagement, buying behaviour and grassroots involvement in the sport of cricket.

Sysdig has officially launched its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering in Australia and New Zealand.

After Canada, now Australia has found that controversial facial recognition company, Clearview AI, broke national privacy laws when it covertly collected citizens’ facial biometrics and incorporated them into its AI-powered identity matching service — which it sells to law enforcement agencies and others.

With a fast-growing base of digital consumers and merchants, acceleration in e-commerce, and food delivery, the Philippines’ current internet economy has been recorded as the nation with the highest internet economy growth, with a rate of 93%, according to the latest collaborative research from Google, Temasek, Bain & Company. This has previously been predicted to grow from US$9b in 2020 to US$17b this year.