CDP Institute

Microsoft is about to spend big on Australia, investing US$3.2 billion to expand AI and cloud computing capabilities there 250%. The company also plans to expand its number of data centres from 20 to 29. This comes copywrite lawyers and human rights organizations have been trying to put protections in place around AI use.

Shoppable TV enables viewers to use their connected TV screen to buy products directly off the TV. The pause, browse and buy capability takes advantage of brand integrations of products shown in television shows and allows viewers to buy what they see.

Asia’s digital economies are continuing to post impressive gains, with cross-border initiatives and tools offering businesses new avenues to unlock unprecedented growth despite economic difficulties, according to a new report titled “How Asia Buys and Pays 2023: Tapping into Asia’s Regional Commerce Opportunities” by market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

GoTo Financial, GoTo’s financial technology business unit, and Bank Jago, an Indonesia-listed technology-based bank, have launched GoPay Tabungan by Jago, a bank account for daily transactions that can be accessed directly via the GoPay and Gojek applications.

Nexu, the Mexican fintech that offers a financing platform for people looking to buy a car, has secured a Series B investment round of USD$20 million. This capital injection will be used to empower the startup. This Mexican fintech works directly with automotive dealerships to offer financing at the point of sale, which increases conversion rates and access to buyers who have not been considered or approved previously.

FinMaq’s unique approach focuses on providing funding for productive assets to individuals and SMEs in Colombia. Their primary mission is to promote financial inclusion and create a substantial social impact. They stand out for their efficiency; they can pre-approve and approve loans in under ten minutes and disburse funds in two days. By the end of the year, they plan to boost their team to 45 members, and by December, they aim to extend their services beyond Colombian borders, specifically targeting Chile and Peru.

Ghanaian startup PAL is an e-money payment infrastructure and liquidity provider acting as an off-ramp for global enterprises and African businesses wanting to innovate cost-effectively within the Francophone Africa market.

Nigerian startup Renda is providing access to the end-to-end fulfillment infrastructure that enables e-commerce businesses and major brands to easily grow, scale and expand across Africa. Launched in January 2021 by co-founders Ope Onaboye and Bimbo Onaboye, Renda allows businesses to access on-demand flexible storage across Africa, track and manage their inventory across all locations, process large volumes of orders for same-day delivery, manage and track all deliveries in real-time, and also manage and reconcile cash collections.

South Africa’s Revio, a payment orchestration platform that helps merchants optimise their order to cash lifecycle, is making waves in addressing payment failures across Africa, and is planning major expansion after banking US$5.2 million seed funding. Revio is a Africa-focused payment orchestration platform that minimizes the complexity, cost, and risk of payment operations, to help merchants reach and retain more customers.

IQVIA, a leading global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions and clinical research services to the pharmaceutical and broader life sciences industry announced that Sanofi will use the IQVIA OCE platform in select countries across Africa and the Middle East. OCE delivers best-in-class CRM for life science companies that is built and maintained on the latest Salesforce technology.

Core42 has partnered with Publicis Groupe Middle East, a regional leader in marketing, communication, and digital business transformation, to further enhance its Jais Arabic large language model (LLM) and increase its ability to generate content that is specifically suitable for the marketing and communications industry.

Airtel has announced the launch of Airtel IQ Reach, what the telecom service provider labels a ‘first-of-its-kind self-serve marketing communications platform. This will enable brands to drive targeted customer engagements through personalized communications.  Through this, Airtel wants to enable small and medium businesses to make the most of their marketing investments to connect with their target audience in a cost-effective manner with prepaid pay-as-you-go plans.