CDP Institute

South African data automation startup Synatic has raised a US$2.5 million seed extension round of funding to grow its footprint in the United States (US).

CleverTap unveiled RenderMax, a proprietary technology that can increase mobile push notification render rates up to 90% on low-end Android devices. Push notifications have the power to increase customer retention rates. Most marketers only focus on their push notification delivery rates, but a “delivered” notification that doesn’t render on the user’s device is a wasted effort.

Princeton Digital Group (PDG), Asia’s leading data center provider, launched its flagship data center (MU1) in India. Its MU1 data center provides 48 MW of critical IT capacity across two buildings and has achieved the rare feat of IGBC Platinum certification. With an investment of USD 300 million, MU1 is built across ~six acres within a larger IT campus at Airoli, Navi Mumbai. The campus will deliver secure and scalable data center capacity to hyperscalers – large cloud, content, commerce and fintech companies.

Zensciences, an award-winning B2B marketing agency announced that CRISIL Ltd, an S&P Global company has retained its services for its Digital Marketing mandate for the second year running. Zensciences has been enabling and managing the brand’s end-to-end social media marketing charter. The agency is also working with CRISIL to shape its brand communications in the digital medium.

This follows an Australian federal court ruling which fined Uber Technologies A$21 million (US$14 million). The court ruled the Australian arm of the U.S. ride-sharing app broke consumer law by misleading customers with warnings they would be charged for cancelling some rides from 2017 to 2021 and by using an inaccurate software algorithm to estimate fares for a taxi service it offered until August 2020.

Accenture has just acquired Fiftyfive5, an Australian-based customer insights and advisory business. The move will strengthen Accenture Song’s ability to help clients tap data insights and performance marketing to accelerate growth and innovation across Australia and New Zealand. Fiftyfive5, which was recently named B&T Research Agency of the Year, has a proven track record in delivering customer insight-driven strategy, customer insight optimized execution and performance measurement for some of the region’s leading brands.

Singapore’s online marketplace Carousell cut 110 jobs, or 10 per cent of the firm’s total headcount, as part of efforts to rein in costs amid dimmed growth prospects.

Investment activity in the Southeast Asia region will continue in 2023 but investors are expected to scrutinize valuations more closely, according to Southeast Asia venture debt provider InnoVen Capital SEA.

Wynwood House, a Peruvian startup that follows the line of global companies such as Sonder as an alternative to Airbnb, halfway between Airbnb and hotels, raised US$7 million in a seed round that will allow it to continue growing in LatAm and beyond. Forbes Peru broke the news, stating that Wynwood House is already present in Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and Panama, and after the round, it plans to reach Chile, the US and Spain.

Layoffs at startups in the region are part of a new wave of cutbacks that responds in most cases to the recession and ensures liquidity for the coming months.