CDP Institute

Global advertising giant, Hakuhodo Inc., based in Tokyo, Japan, has made a strategic acquisition that solidifies their presence in the rapidly burgeoning Indian market. The company has acquired a majority stake in India’s leading brand and entertainment agency group, MA&TH (Marching Ants & Trigger Happy) Entertainment Network, headquartered in Mumbai.

Indian real estate developer RMZ Corp is expanding into three new asset classes, including data centers. The company is expecting to develop 350 million sq ft (32.5 million sqm) of commercial space for industrial and warehousing logistics, hospitality services, and data centers in India and abroad by 2032.

Descartes, a global leader in on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions focused on improving productivity, has acquired Melbourne-based Localz, a platform that helps engage with customers the day they’re having goods or services delivered. The Localz system also helps retailers improve the in-store collection process.

NEXTGEN, which views Australia, New Zealand and surrounding areas as a key  growth area, will work with NightDragon to support portfolio companies in the region. NightDragon is a cybersecurity, safety and privacy investment firm. This comes as Australia’s cybersecurity market is expected to have substantial growth. Its estimated value was reported at $4.6 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $5.8 billion by 2024.

In 2019, SoftBank allocated $5 billion to investing in Latin American startups, then the Japanese investment conglomerate committed another $3 billion to startups there, which was further validation that Latin America was home to a formidable startup system. About $7.6 billion of that capital has been allocated overall across more than 80 investments.

Small businesses in Latin America got another boost in lending support with the investment of $4 million in Kala, a Colombia-based company building fintech infrastructure for lending. Kala officially launched in July 2022 and within the first six months had three customers, two in Colombia and one in Mexico, using the product and dispersing it to over 50,000 customers. Kala charges a SaaS fee and is already bringing in revenue.

Nigerian startup Alajo is an escrowed digital piggy bank for the under- and un-banked, which allows people to access financial services without the need for internet access. Founded in 2021, Alajo helps people to save money using USSD, IVR and SMS through PoS and money agents in their communities, delivered via a savings infrastructure on a Mobile App.

Nigeria’s Autochek, an auto-tech company making car ownership more accessible and affordable across Africa, has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Egypt’s AutoTager to deepen its presence in North Africa and support the company’s ongoing growth.

Venture capital activity around climate tech has been heating up in Africa despite the global VC funding cooldown. The continent’s climate tech startups secured over $860 million in equity funding, largely driven by clean energy technologies, representing 3.5x growth amid macroeconomic headwinds last year, data shows, making climate Africa’s most funded sector after fintech.

At a time when CRM giant Salesforce has been slashing jobs and cutting down on its real estate footprint globally in a bid to prune costs by $3-5 billion, it is beefing up its India presence with a chunk of it happening in Hyderabad.

Gupshup a cloud messaging and conversational experiences platform, sees many micro, small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs) resorting to chatbots in the years to come for having a digital presence in India, which is the largest market for the company that achieved a billion-dollar valuation in April 2021. A rapidly digitising corporate India that cannot afford the archaic infrastructure and understands the importance of innovative and stable technology is an enormous opportunity for Gupshup.