CDP Institute

In 2019, SoftBank allocated $5 billion to investing in Latin American startups, then the Japanese investment conglomerate committed another $3 billion to startups there, which was further validation that Latin America was home to a formidable startup system. About $7.6 billion of that capital has been allocated overall across more than 80 investments.

Small businesses in Latin America got another boost in lending support with the investment of $4 million in Kala, a Colombia-based company building fintech infrastructure for lending. Kala officially launched in July 2022 and within the first six months had three customers, two in Colombia and one in Mexico, using the product and dispersing it to over 50,000 customers. Kala charges a SaaS fee and is already bringing in revenue.

Nigerian startup Alajo is an escrowed digital piggy bank for the under- and un-banked, which allows people to access financial services without the need for internet access. Founded in 2021, Alajo helps people to save money using USSD, IVR and SMS through PoS and money agents in their communities, delivered via a savings infrastructure on a Mobile App.

Nigeria’s Autochek, an auto-tech company making car ownership more accessible and affordable across Africa, has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Egypt’s AutoTager to deepen its presence in North Africa and support the company’s ongoing growth.

Venture capital activity around climate tech has been heating up in Africa despite the global VC funding cooldown. The continent’s climate tech startups secured over $860 million in equity funding, largely driven by clean energy technologies, representing 3.5x growth amid macroeconomic headwinds last year, data shows, making climate Africa’s most funded sector after fintech.

At a time when CRM giant Salesforce has been slashing jobs and cutting down on its real estate footprint globally in a bid to prune costs by $3-5 billion, it is beefing up its India presence with a chunk of it happening in Hyderabad.

Gupshup a cloud messaging and conversational experiences platform, sees many micro, small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs) resorting to chatbots in the years to come for having a digital presence in India, which is the largest market for the company that achieved a billion-dollar valuation in April 2021. A rapidly digitising corporate India that cannot afford the archaic infrastructure and understands the importance of innovative and stable technology is an enormous opportunity for Gupshup.

Plans are to expand internationally and provide restaurant managers with single system to streamline inefficient, disjointed systems restaurants typically have. Restoplus provides a branded website and mobile app, point-of-service (POS) system, QR ordering, inventory management, staff rostering, reservations, commission-free delivery service and SMS/email marketing – all under a single subscription.

The Renault deal is oOh!media’s first bespoke sponsorship with content partner Broadsheet and News Corp Australia. Broadsheet, which delivers hyper targeted and curated lifestyle recommendations on where to eat on the Office network, will create bespoke Renault content aligned to its target audience and amplified on oOh!’s digital screens.

Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, has announced new in-app travel innovations and partnerships to give travelers a safe, seamless and hyperlocal experience as Southeast Asia embraces a travel comeback.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC) announced that it is targeting RM1 billion (US$230 million) in investment opportunities from nine sectors by 2025. The nine sectors are Digital Tourism, Digital Content, Digital Finance, Digital Health, Digital Cities, Digital Services, Digital Agriculture, Digital Trade, and the Islamic Digital Economy.