CDP Institute

A recent report published by audit and advisory firm KPMG and banking group HSBC has featured 10 potential unicorns in Malaysia that are poised to make a lasting impact on the global business landscape over the next decade. The Emerging Giants in Asia Pacific report has taken an in-depth look at 6,472 technology-focused start-ups in 12 Asia Pacific markets with valuations up to $500 million. These potential unicorns, dubbed “Emerging Giants”, include Boost Holdings, Exabytes, and Jirnexu.

Integrated marketing and innovation company Hakuhodo has acquired digital creative agency Kingdom Digital to accelerate Kingdom Digital’s expansion in Southeast Asia. According to Kingdom digital, there will be no key personnel changes within the agency, and currently, there are no conflicting clients as well.

The startup touts that its site features over 50,000 listings and has more than 1 million monthly unique active users in Argentina and Mexico. It claims that it is doing more than 100 real estate transactions per month and is currently originating over 50% of the mortgage loans for its customers. Mudafy’s priority is to expand to more cities in Mexico, a market it entered in 2020. Longer term, it is exploring the possibility of moving into other Latin American markets such as Colombia, Perú and Chile.

This streaming was born in January 2021 under the AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) model, meaning free and ad-funded platforms that are gaining ground worldwide. Riivi started in Chile and reached Peru and Colombia this year, adding 200,000 monthly users. Riivi has raised US$1.25 million in its pre-seed and seed rounds. Among its investors is the firm Sable. It also recently went through Start-Up Chile, a government accelerator that both funds and advises emerging companies.

Oui Capital, an Africa-focused VC firm based in Lagos and Massachusetts, announced today that it has completed the first closing of its $30 million second fund, Oui Capital Mentors Fund II, as it seeks to strengthen its presence on the continent.

Zedcrest Capital, a firm known for its debt and equity capital markets investments, but who recently started dabbling into venture investments, has launched a $10 million fund for pre-Series A stage startups in Africa.

Youverify, a Lagos and San Francisco–based identity verification company helping African banks and startups automate KYC and other compliance procedures, announced it has secured a $1 million seed round extension. The startup raised a $1.5 million round in 2020, bringing its total seed raise to $2.5 million.

Freshworks Inc., a software company empowering the people who power business, integrated with Google’s Business Messages for Freshchat, Freshdesk Omnichannel and Freshsales Suite. This integration can help businesses around the world reach and support their customers directly on Google Maps and Google Search mobile apps – making it easy for agents to support consumers in the places they most commonly use to find local goods and services.

Adobe announced the general availability of Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) as a Cloud Service, powered by Adobe Experience Cloud, in India. A cloud-native solution, AEM helps businesses manage and scale customised digital content for every channel with SaaS-like agility and experience management capabilities that give marketers and developers the flexibility to quickly build powerful, personalised digital experiences in just a few weeks, not months as is industry standard today.