South African fintech company Ozow has raised a US$48 million Series B funding round to help it further develop its product offering and expand into new markets.
Ozow which rebranded from i-Pay in April 2019 enables millions of merchants and consumers with easy, fast and secure alternative payment solutions, including QR codes, point of sale, e-commerce, e-billing and peer-to-peer payments.
Founded in 2016, the South African startup company connects customers and fleet owners with trusted, qualified and vetted mechanics in Gauteng and Cape Town. Michanic allows users to request instant service and repair quotes from its online platform, saving up to 35 per cent compared to dealerships and independent garages in the process.
Mensa Brands, an Indian startup that acquires direct-to-consumer brands and helps them scale within the home market and overseas, has become a unicorn just six months after launching its business. Falcon Edge Capital led Mensa Brands’ $135 million Series B financing round that values the Indian startup at over $1 billion.
Lytics has launched Cloud Connect, which lets users create SQL queries to extract an audience from a cloud database and send it to an ad network. They describe it as a “freemium” product but don’t get too excited: the free version connects just one warehouse to one ad network.