CDP Institute

Egyptian startup Convertedin, a marketing operating system for e-commerce brands, has raised a US$3 million seed funding round to help it expand across MENA and Latin America. Convertedin is built for brands and businesses who desire a single platform to drive personalized and scalable campaigns, convert customers, achieve measurable results and grow revenue.

The Nairobi-based Lori Systems, an e-logistics company digitizing haulage and providing shippers with solutions to efficiently manage their cargo and transporters, has raised funding from Google to help it to continue to expand across the continent.

IAB report found that seamless omnichannel shopping experiences will present the biggest opportunity for brands this year as shoppers return instore. Retail marketers must assess their marketing strategies to ensure they can adjust activities to respond to economic changes, navigate the continuing influence of covid, optimise shoppers omnichannel experiences and bolster confidence among hesitant shoppers.

Metigy was a platform based in AI, offering machine-led marketing solutions for small businesses. Metigy has gone into voluntary administration, leaving Metigy’s 75 employees shocked, given that the Australian Financial Review recently reported the company had grown more than 300 per cent in 2020 and 2021, and was planning on raising money with a valuation of $1 billion.

Zen is an Adelaide-based company specialising in providing data connectivity, loyalty, digital marketing, gift card solutions and in-store digital advertising to retail liquor and hospitality industries. LMG is incorporating Zen’s loyalty and digital marketing platforms to complement LMG’s existing digital marketing reach.

Accenture has agreed to acquire Indonesian brand and experience agency, Romp, which is renowned for its creative talent and innovative services across branding, creative and performance marketing. The move will strengthen Accenture Song’s (formerly Accenture Interactive) ability to deliver creative and tech-driven brand experiences for clients across Southeast Asia.

Catcha Investment Corp 2.0, the second blank check company formed by Southeast Asian internet group Catcha Group, has withdrawn its plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States.

Geopagos, an Argentinian technology startup whose clients are companies that want to launch or scale their payment acceptance business, announced the closing of a US$35 million round led by Riverwood Capital. Geopagos offers businesses,  different products related to payment acceptance, ranging from terminals to convert the mobile phone into a point of sale to the transformation of a company’s website into an e-commerce platform. Geopagos has clients across 15 Latin American countries, including Santander, BBVA, Itaú, Bac Credomatic, Niubiz, and Banco Estado de Chile.

Miferia, a Mexico-based business-to-business wholesale marketplace, bagged $7 million in seed funding to continue developing its curated website connecting independent retailers in Mexico with domestic brands in categories like cosmetics, food and beverage and home décor. Over 90% of retail in Mexico,  still takes place in just 2 million physical stores, and less than 1% of B2B transactions have moved online and are largely still dependent on cash transactions, which often requires retailers to pay upfront for merchandise.

Bluechip Technologies, an African enterprise company that partners with international OEMs like Microsoft and Oracle and provides data warehousing solutions and enterprise applications to banks, telcos and insurance firms, is announcing its European launch.

Beacon Power Services (BPS, and energy tech company, which provides data and grid management solutions to help Africa’s power sector distribute electricity more efficiently, has announced that it has closed a seed round of $2.7 million to improve electricity access for sub-Saharan African cities.

Amazon Prime Video has announced the launch of the localized version of its streaming service in one of Africa’s biggest markets: Nigeria. Just as it did in Southeast Asia recently, the tech giant is attempting to boost its subscriber push in new markets like Africa by increasing its investment in local production, unveiling slates of localized originals and introducing discounted Amazon Prime membership offerings to customers.