Kenyan startup Apollo Agriculture, a commercial farming platform that helps small-scale farmers maximise their profits, has raised a US$40 million Series B funding round to help it expand internationally and enhance its product.
Dapio, the U.K.-based cashless payment solutions provider for businesses, today announced that it has raised $3.4 million to fuel the launch of its “Tap to Pay” solution for Android users in the U.K. and Europe. African payments giant Flutterwave co-led the growth round with Techstars.
Morocco’s Al Mada Holding Group has launched a US$110 million pan-African venture capital fund to invest in fast-growing startups across the continent. Al Mada, an investment holding company controlled by the Moroccan royal family, is one of the largest private investment funds in Africa, and its new fund aims to attract innovative investors and take part in the exponentially growing African startup landscape.
Martech keeps taking larger bites out of marketing budgets: 17.3% last year, 19.9% this year, 23.5% next year, and 30.9% five years from now, according to the latest CMO Survey. This despite barely more than half (56.4%) of current tools being used and nearly half (48.8%) of the survey respondents reporting worse-than-expected results. Oddly enough, marketers rate selecting marketing technologies as the thing they do best.