CDP Institute

Singapore-based marketing platform Insider has announced an investment of up to US$105 million from existing investors, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Esas Private Equity. The funds will be used exclusively to accelerate Insider’s merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy to build upon the company’s existing technology and capabilities.

Mexican fintech company Kapital grabbed a fresh round of capital, US$20 million in Series A and US$45 million in a debt facility, less than a year after securing a US$8.6 million seed round. Kapital built a platform that could provide a way for small and medium-sized businesses across Latin America to have all of their financial needs, including cash flow, credit and investments, all in one place. It allows customers to get a credit card, pay bills in advance, view cash flow and manage business spending.

Huli, a healthtech firm with offices and operations in Mexico, closed a US$5.5 million Pre-Series A financing round. This will enable the company to expand its presence in Mexico, its most promising and rapidly growing market since its inception in 2019. Huli is a platform that has linked over 10,000 healthcare professionals, 400 hospitals, medical centers, and seven million patients with clinical laboratories, insurers, pharmacy chains, and pharmaceutical companies.

Nigerian fintech startup Earnipay, which provides flexible and on-demand salary access to income-earners, is now quickly scaling after US$4 million funding round. Founded by Nonso Onwuzulike in 2019, Earnipay integrates employer payroll and HRM systems to enable on-demand financing for employees to access their earned salary instantly, without interest.

Kenyan startup GoBEBA says it is reimagining Africa’s utilities supply chain to help provide the infrastructure that can cope with the continent-wide explosion in urban growth. Formed in 2019 by Peter Ndiang’ui, a former OLX general manager, and Lesley Mbogo, a former head of product at Amazon, GoBEBA is an online distributor of bulky refillable essentials.

Kenyan startup Chumz has built a goal-based mobile app that helps users save and invest money from their mobile money accounts, with as little as US$0.05. The platform works by channeling funds collected from a user’s mobile money account to a licensed fund manager, who then offers a return to the fund. Earned interest is then redistributed to individual clients. One of the unique features of Chumz is that it encourages users to save based on their behaviour.

Google’s new policy will affect apps that offer loans directly, lead generators, and those who connect consumers with third-party lenders. Loan apps have to complete Google’s Personal Loan App Declaration for India and submit the necessary documentation. Google tightened its personal loans policy for apps on Play Store last month.

STT Global Data Centres’ India division, has recently unveiled its ambitious proposal to invest around Rs 2,000 crore (US$244 million) in the establishment of two state-of-the-art data centers at its current campus located in the Dighi area of Pune. The upcoming data centers will be constructed adjacent to the company’s operational data centers in Pune on a 5.4-acre property.

European fashion brand Bestseller has selected IBM Consulting for a large digital transformation project in its Indian business. Headquartered in Denmark, Bestseller is an internationally operating fashion retailer with almost 9,000 shops worldwide, mostly in Europe and Asia. In India, Bestseller has a footprint of around 400 brand outlets and a presence in over 1,200 shop-in-shops in external multi-brand stores throughout the country.

Global communications platform, Truecaller has launched Truecaller Assistant in Australia. It uses proprietary machine learning technology to serve as a customizable “digital receptionist” that gives users a live transcription of what a caller is saying, so they can decide whether to answer or ignore the call.

Research on consumers in six global markets by cloud-based ecommerce company, ShipStation found that, in Australia, 81% of consumers surveyed were unlikely to buy from a retailer if they’d had a bad delivery experience – and 71% ranked ‘high shipping costs’ as a key barrier to a repeat buy. Further, 41% ranked having a good experience with delivery as a key reason for repeat business.