CDP Institute

Nigerian prop-tech startup Rent Small Small has been accepted to join the latest cohort of the Techstars Toronto accelerator programme, securing US$120,000 in funding and assistance in scaling. Launched in 2018, Rent Small Small is an online platform that allows users to identify homes to rent and pay rent monthly. The startup has so far helped renters save NGN550 million (US$1.3 million) on legal and agency fees and provided over 12,000 monthly stays across 18 locations in Lagos State.

Vantage Data Centers, an American IT company has begun the construction of a new R15 billion data center campus. The first phase of the project (80MW) will go online in the third quarter of 2022 and will be based in Waterfall, Gauteng.

Boxed, an e-commerce grocery platform which sells bulk consumables and licenses its e-commerce software to enterprise retailers, announced a partnership with 786 Holdings Limited to deliver e-commerce software and services technology to the Middle East and North Africa. The partnership is expected to initially launch in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and subsequently in the UAE, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey and Kuwait.

Stripe is making another acquisition to expand the services it offers alongside its core payments product. The company is acquiring Recko, which has built a platform that lets businesses track and automate payments reconciliation. Recko is based out of Bangalore, India, and significantly this will be Stripe’s first acquisition in the country.

Consumers in South East Asia (SEA) have significantly increased in-app purchases in 2021 compared to 2020. On average, the six SEA markets examined (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) have seen a 240% increase in spending, with the Philippines experiencing a massive 371% increase, the highest growth in purchases in the region.

While Singaporeans have lived through fluctuating restrictions – like Circuit Breaker and heightened alerts – one thing that has remained constant over the last 18 months is the lifeline to normality that applications and digital services have provided. Whether it’s staying connected to loved ones, ordering food and groceries, work, study, or rest, the role that apps play in our lives has never been more prominent.

The expected reach is about 85 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 and by 2025 it’s predicted to raise up to 160 billion. On the regional level, Latin America’s eCommerce industry is showing much more competition. The two leading regions are Brazil and Mexico that contributes up to 31% to 28% of the total revenues. Apart from them, Colombia, Argentina and Peru.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) financial institutions have significantly ramped up their adoption of fintech in recent years. Lockdowns, social distancing and the need for e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic pushed 40 million Latin Americans to enroll in banks and enabled them to use digital finance channels, e-commerce or credit for the first time in their lives.

Nigerian fintech startup Toju is providing alternative credit-scoring for the unbanked, having developed a record management platform for local savings clubs, thrift collectors, microfinance institutions and cooperatives.

Ghanaian start-up Kaazi has launched the public beta of its football talent identification and recruitment platform, which will be available to all football players in Africa. Founded in July by Nana Yaw Oppong-Mensah, a former football player, coach and scout, Kaazi is a web-based platform that allows football players to build their own profiles by adding videos and match highlights to showcase their talent directly to scouts and professional football clubs.

As male-dominated as the African tech space is, some women are making their mark, serving as a source of encouragement for more women to dive in. To celebrate this year’s International Day for the Girl Child, Techpoint Africa showcases four tech women doing big things in African Tech; their work, life and how they’re navigating a male-dominated ecosystem.

Pandemic-driven growth in India’s ecommerce, food and grocery sectors combined with reverse migration of workers from cities back to their hometowns has put blue-collar workers in high demand. Now companies in India are investing in upskilling that workforce to fit new working models in recognition of changed economics and to benefit from India’s 250 million blue-collar workforce.