CDP Institute

Nigerian fintech startup Earnipay, which provides flexible and on-demand salary access to income-earners, is now quickly scaling after US$4 million funding round. Founded by Nonso Onwuzulike in 2019, Earnipay integrates employer payroll and HRM systems to enable on-demand financing for employees to access their earned salary instantly, without interest.

Kenyan startup GoBEBA says it is reimagining Africa’s utilities supply chain to help provide the infrastructure that can cope with the continent-wide explosion in urban growth. Formed in 2019 by Peter Ndiang’ui, a former OLX general manager, and Lesley Mbogo, a former head of product at Amazon, GoBEBA is an online distributor of bulky refillable essentials.

Kenyan startup Chumz has built a goal-based mobile app that helps users save and invest money from their mobile money accounts, with as little as US$0.05. The platform works by channeling funds collected from a user’s mobile money account to a licensed fund manager, who then offers a return to the fund. Earned interest is then redistributed to individual clients. One of the unique features of Chumz is that it encourages users to save based on their behaviour.

Google’s new policy will affect apps that offer loans directly, lead generators, and those who connect consumers with third-party lenders. Loan apps have to complete Google’s Personal Loan App Declaration for India and submit the necessary documentation. Google tightened its personal loans policy for apps on Play Store last month.

STT Global Data Centres’ India division, has recently unveiled its ambitious proposal to invest around Rs 2,000 crore (US$244 million) in the establishment of two state-of-the-art data centers at its current campus located in the Dighi area of Pune. The upcoming data centers will be constructed adjacent to the company’s operational data centers in Pune on a 5.4-acre property.

European fashion brand Bestseller has selected IBM Consulting for a large digital transformation project in its Indian business. Headquartered in Denmark, Bestseller is an internationally operating fashion retailer with almost 9,000 shops worldwide, mostly in Europe and Asia. In India, Bestseller has a footprint of around 400 brand outlets and a presence in over 1,200 shop-in-shops in external multi-brand stores throughout the country.

Global communications platform, Truecaller has launched Truecaller Assistant in Australia. It uses proprietary machine learning technology to serve as a customizable “digital receptionist” that gives users a live transcription of what a caller is saying, so they can decide whether to answer or ignore the call.

Research on consumers in six global markets by cloud-based ecommerce company, ShipStation found that, in Australia, 81% of consumers surveyed were unlikely to buy from a retailer if they’d had a bad delivery experience – and 71% ranked ‘high shipping costs’ as a key barrier to a repeat buy. Further, 41% ranked having a good experience with delivery as a key reason for repeat business.

SoftBank, the Japanese bank that has spawned several unicorns in Latin America, announced it will launch a second fund under its Opportunity Growth Fund to raise and invest US$150 million in Black and Latino-led startups. The new fund expects to deploy the US$150 million within three years, and SoftBank will be a limited partner.

The Latin American accelerator of Chilean origin, Platanus Ventures, presents its sixth generation amidst the boom in investments in early-stage startups. Batch 6 of Platanus Ventures is filled with startups in the marketplace industry and software as a service (SaaS), but it also includes other sectors such as edtech, proptech, or the innovative web3.

Brazilian fintech company Ebanx S.A. has disclosed plans to operate in 11 African markets by the end of 2023. EBANX expanded into Africa in September 2022 with hopes to replicate its fast growth in Latin America by placing a greater emphasis on the digital payments side of its business.

Ethiopia’s JEMLA is a B2B e-commerce wholesale platform that is helping informal retailers access a wide variety of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) products. The platform connects dukas, kiosks or souqs with FMCGs, providing them with a dependable and cost-effective supply chain and distribution network customised to their requirements. In addition, the platform provides access to working capital and a range of services to help retailers expand their businesses, including data insights through the use of technology.