CDP Institute

Hash, a payment infrastructure fintech, announced today that it has raised $40 million in a Series C funding round co-led by QED Investors and Kaszek. The raise comes just six months after the Brazilian startup raised $15 million in Series B financing led by Alexandria, Virginia-based QED, and brings its total raised to nearly $59 million since its 2017 inception. Endeavor Scale-Up Ventures also put money in the round.

Influencer marketing is on an upswing worldwide, with TAM projections revealed by The Influencer Marketing Hub indicating that the sector is expected to grow to $14 billion this year, with nearly half of marketers saying they are spending more than 20% of their budget on influencer marketing. Influency.me’s home market of Brazil is following this market trend. This is shown by Influency.me’s earnings, which grew by 145% over the last 12 months.

Mygarage.africa, an online platform is tackling the challenges of leasing public transportation busses in Nigeria by digitising the entire value chain in this market, from the way owners and verified drivers connect, to how the vehicles are maintained and rental fees collected.

Nigerian auto-tech startup Autochek has raised a US$13.1 million seed funding round to bolster its core auto loan processing platform and deepen its footprint in West Africa. Autochek aims to build digital solutions that will enhance and enable a seamless and safe automotive commerce experience across Africa, starting with Nigeria and Ghana.

CDP Public Cloud Regional Control Plane is now available in Australia and Europe. This addition will extend CDP Hybrid capabilities to customers in industries with strict data protection requirements by allowing them to govern their data entirely in-region.

Software company Splunk is launching a significant update to its partner program today, including rebranding the program as the “Splunk Partnerverse”.

A decade’s worth of digital development ensured Purebaby, Australia’s largest independent babywear brand was able to adjust and grow during the huge shift to digital consumption forced upon retailers by the COVID disruption.

Companies in the Asia Pacific that have continued to invest in their customer experience (CX) over the past year are more likely to have maximized their resiliency during the pandemic and grown their customer base in the past six months.

Carousell Group has acquired Ox Street, an end-to-end marketplace for authenticated sneakers and streetwear in Southeast Asia. Following Carousell Group’s US$100 million investment from STIC Investments in September, this acquisition underpins the group’s strategic priority to accelerate its recommerce growth in Greater Southeast Asia. Ox Street will continue to operate as its own brand, retaining its name, platform, and team. According to Carousell, the acquisition will drive a synergistic partnership between the marketplaces.

The advantages of having open communication between different products and services are nearly infinite for credit scoring, moving money between bank accounts and spanning verticals like the neobanks, credit providers and personal finance products Latin Americans use every day.

VCs continue to funnel money into the region. Brazil and Mexico, the two largest markets in terms of population and economic activity, have shown the biggest uptick in startup funding. The Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America (LAVCA), a not-for-profit membership organization, reports that VCs invested $10.3 billion in more than 400 Latin America startups in the first half of 2021, doubling the investment in the same period in 2020. Brazil is home to 53% of Latin-America startups, while Mexico contributes 14%.

Sandbox, the Nigeria-based e-commerce fulfillment platform for merchants in Africa, has announced the completion of a $1.8 million seed round from investors including 4DX Ventures, Enza Capital, FJLabs and Golden Palm Investments. The new funding will be used to expand the company’s operations in other countries across West Africa, bolster the development of its product range, and hire new talent.