In a bid to bridge the gap of access to finance for small businesses in Nigeria, Rwanda and Francophone Africa, Kenya’s embedded finance fintech Pezesha has announced the close of an $11 million pre-Series A equity-debt round led by Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II.
Alloy Capital announced that it has invested around US$14.5 million in Auronix, a Mexican company that provides conversational messaging solutions. Auronix provides SaaS that keeps companies communicating with their customers through the platforms they use the most, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, or SMS. Auronix is headquartered in Mexico City and has offices in Bogota and Buenos Aires. Its clients include banks, telecommunications, retail, and logistics companies in Mexico and LatAm, such as Chedraui, Banorte, Izzi, Estafeta, and Netflix.
Google Wallet is now available in South Africa, the first market for this product in Africa, to make it easy for users to save and easily and securely access their payment cards, loyalty cards and boarding passes. Cardholders of partner banks in South Africa can now add their details on the wallet and make contactless payments using their Android phones and Wear OS devices.
It’s tough to get brand safety right, but the industry keeps trying. IPG Mediabrands announced a new set of tools to find and block inappropriate ad placements, while IAS expanded its suitability measurements to include standards from the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). Meanwhile, DoubleVerify admitted a mistake made brand safety on X/Twitter look worse than it really was in October 2023 and March 2024.