CDP Institute

Tech giant Google announced the launch of a cloud region in South Africa, its first in the continent, playing catch-up to other top providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, which made inroads into the continent a few years ago.

A Kenya-based venture studio with a focus on tourism, Purple Elephant Ventures (PEV), has raised $1 million pre-seed funding to build the next generation of startups that use technology to modernize the tourism sector.

Snap launched Family Centre in India, a new in-app tool that provides parents with more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, and who they have been communicating with, without revealing any of the substance of those conversations. Family Centre mirrors how parents engage with their teens in the real world.

Microsoft MSFT is reportedly planning an investment in India-based, play-to-earn gaming platform, Zupee. The technology giant is said to be in talks to potentially lead a funding round of more than $100 million, which would be the latest in a series of bets by the Windows maker to expand its cloud business in key overseas markets.

Aurionpro solutions, a multinational company headquartered in Mumbai announced the launch of Aurobees, an innovative and comprehensive digitalization, fulfilment and finance platform aimed at assisting small and medium-sized organisation in transforming their operation for the digital economy.

Spryker, the leading platform for enterprise marketplaces, thing commerce, and unified commerce, has published its Australian Online Grocery Report 2022. The research of 2,500 Australian consumers finds almost half – 48% – of Australians buy least some of their groceries online, with 10% now ordering most or all of their groceries via the internet. In total, 23% of Australian household food budgets is now spent ordering online.

Storyblok, the content management system (CMS) category leader used by Adidas, T-Mobile, Renault, Marc O’Polo and other leading brands, has announced its expansion to APAC. Their system empowers both developers and content teams to create better content experiences across digital channels.

Minteo is targeting its beta version to be released next month. The platform should be fully live to the public by the beginning of 2023. Minteo plans to differentiate itself through its infrastructure and focus on working with local artists and brands. The capital will be used to build up the platform, get artists on board from Colombia and Mexico then over time expand into other Latin American countries.

Solvento, the first fintech focused on the transportation sector in Mexico, announced a US$5 million capital raise. Solvento solves many financial needs for carriers: automating payments, invoice financing, and credit. By having those issues solved, they can focus on their operation and growth. The company, which has been in operation since 2021, revealed that it has accumulated $13 million in loans, which have gone to more than 4,000 carriers.

iiDENTIFii, the South African-based innovative biometrics tech firm, has raised US$15 million growth capital, in what is to date, the largest African Series A in the identity verification space. The round was led by African investment company Arise whose cornerstone investors include Rabobank Partnerships, Norfund, NorFinance, and FMO.

Egyptian and MENA-focused venture capital firm Algebra Ventures has announced in a statement that it has finalized a $100 million first close and expects to reach its final close by the end of Q1 2023.

After announcing a a pre-seed investment of $625,000 in March, and becoming the first African startup to join New York’s MetaProp Accelerator in July, Nigerian proptech company, Spleet has recently announced the completion of its $2.6 million seed funding led by Los Angeles–based early-stage VC firm MaC Venture Capital.