CDP Institute

Argentina-based clicOH is the latest shipping technology company attracting venture capital funding, raising $25 million in Series A funding in a round led by Tiger Global. ClicOH, operates in Argentina, Mexico, Chile and Uruguay, and its proprietary technology enables sellers to track shipments in real time via a dashboard with key indicators and traceability. That demand has enabled clicOH to grow quickly since launching its current business model in 2020.

Nigerian fintech startup Sproutly is a virtual banking app for children under the age of 17, providing digital savings products and a debit card with built-in parental control. Sproutly provides kids with an app-based savings account and linked debit card to allow them to save, manage and spend their money, while at the same time allowing parents to control outflows and set targets via a parents app.

South African ed-tech startup FoondaMate has raised US$2 million in seed funding as it aims to close global education inequality gaps using its AI-powered learning platform. The Startup has built a chat-based, AI-powered learning bot that helps students get fast, easy and safe access to study materials and help via open chat platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Appetito, the Egyptian platform that delivers groceries and household products to customers from 11 dark stores across three cities in the North African country, is acquiring Lamma, an identical startup with operations in the Maghreb regions of Tunisia and Morocco.

Duo, a cloud-based secure access provider which is now a part of Cisco, has launched its first data center in Mumba, India. The aim is to help its customers strengthen cyber defences and meet data localization requirements. This is the latest n Cisco’s investments to build future ready, data compliant security infrastructure in India.

RBL used Salesforce’s newly launched Hyperforce, that enables local data storage on major public clouds in a compliant manner. This helped them meet regulatory requirements around an India data centre. RBL Bank deployed Salesforce platform to bring onboarding processes for all its retail lending units onto a single solution. Customer onboarding for the credit card business and rural vehicle and tractor finance now sit on Salesforce.

BUD, a Singapore-based metaverse user-generated platform, announces its $36.8 million Series B round led by Sequoia Capital India. The company intends to use the fresh funding to further develop its creation tools, grow its global user base and roll out web3 products for its metaverse ecosystem. It has also revealed clear plans to launch its own non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace.

Grab Financial Group, has launched a new brand, GrabFin, for its digital payment, insurance, lending and wealth management offerings. With GrabFin, Grab users will be offered a single entry point to access payment, investment and insurance services on the Grab app. Following its launch in Singapore and Malaysia, the GrabFin brand will be progressively rolled out in other Southeast Asian markets in the coming months.

Neon was founded specifically with the mission of decreasing inequality in Brazil, which is known for having a large gap between the wealthier members of its population and lower income residents. Its focus is on the underbanked population of the Brazilian working class. In February, Neon raised a $300 million Series D financing that valued the company at $1.6 billion, officially giving it unicorn status.

Merqueo, a digital supermarket that operates in Colombia, Mexico, and recently Brazil, received a US$22 million financing package from IDB Invest and Blue like an Orange. IDB Invest emphasized that the transaction would help Merqueo foster job creation and purchases from local suppliers, especially SMEs.

Egyptian online used car retailer Sylndr has raised a US$12.6 million pre-seed funding round to help expand its operational and technological infrastructure, increase brand awareness, and grow its team.

Nigerian auto-tech startup Autochek has acquired Moroccan counterpart KIFAL Auto to drive its expansion into the North Africa region. Autochek aims to build digital solutions that will enhance and enable a seamless and safe automotive commerce experience across Africa.