Yassir, an African super app platform that offers on-demand services such as ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, and payments, has raised $150 million in Series B funding, five times what it raised in its previous priced round last November.
Franq, an open banking startup based in Florianópolis, Brazil, raised US$12 million in a round led by Quona Capital, a fund focused on emerging market fintechs. Created in 2019, Franq operates by matching personal bankers with up to 50 financial institutions—banks such as Itaú, Bradesco, and Santander, and fintechs, to sell their products to individuals and SMEs. They have around 7,000 of these personal bankers and 70% of Franq’s clients are individuals, while companies represent 30% of the clients.
Egyptian fintech startup Paymob, the leading omnichannel payments facilitator in MENAP, has embarked on the next phase of its regional expansion with a launch in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“Ask Meta AI anything” is what you now see instead of the traditional search bar across Meta apps such as Facebook and Instagram. Meta AI will still perform the basic search function but will also answer questions and chat with you. It should hardly be a surprise when a tech company launches a genAI solution these days but this is a bold challenge to Google and Open.ai (it’s also available as a standalone tool at Meta.ai).