Africa’s smartphone market shrunk by 18% in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). The slump was driven by a reduction in consumer spending due to inflation, and economic uncertainties, but it was not unique to Africa as smartphone shipment dipped across major markets last year.
The wave (big tech cut offs) in Latam was also powerful, with startups and technology companies making significant job cuts. Unico, The Brazilian unicorn, dedicated to identity authentication, laid off 10.5% of its staff, about 110 employees. Betterfly. The Chilean company, which offers companies a life insurance policy for workers who grow with their healthy habits, cut 30% of its regional workforce. Other Latam Startups as Tul (Colombia), PagSeguro (Brazil) and others experimented job cuts around 10%.
Qotto, a solar kits provider with operations in Burkina Faso and Benin, has raised $8 million in a Series A equity-debt round led by the IBL group, a billion-dollar conglomerate headquartered in Mauritius with business interests in a number of sectors including energy, financial services, logistics, distribution and engineering.
Just over one-third of marketers plan to either buy a new CDP (21%) or replace an existing one (13%) this year, according to this Optimove survey. Unfortunately, it doesn’t report how many have a CDP already in place, which would put the other values in perspective. It does seem that CDPs are a relatively low priority: they rank sixth on the list of new systems and eighth on the list of systems to replace.