Kouna, a SaaS platform for brands to optimize prices, promotions, orders, and inventory through artificial intelligence, announced raising US$6 million in a seed round, led by Mexican VC Cometa. Kouna focuses on the optimization of promotions, an aspect where mass consumer brands and retailers would allegedly not have good guidance, a problem that Kouna promises to solve thanks to machine learning.
Aviva is a Mexico-based fintech startup focused on bringing working capital to unserved communities. Its approach uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to match customers’ spoken word to the fields of a real-time credit application. Now buoyed by $2.2 million in pre-seed funding, the company is rolling out a network of physical and digital onboarding kiosks in Chalco de Díaz, Ixtapaluca and Texcoco, towns about an hour’s drive from Mexico City.
Leading global wireless technology firm Qualcomm has launched its African Innovation Platform, a suite of mentorship, education, and training programmes created to support the development of Africa’s emerging technology ecosystem.
Just over half of consumers (54%) like to receive personalized messages because they show the consumers are known to the brand, plus they can be time savers. The rest (46%) find it at best unimportant, at worst creepy. Relevance far outstrips personalization when it comes to driving email opens (54% vs. 19%). Takeaway: treat each customer the way they prefer.