How African startups raised venture capital in 2022

Earlier this month, we reported that investors' sentiments surrounding venture capital activity going into this were more reserved than upbeat. Investors believe the market correction, which caught up with the continent in the second half of 2022, will spiral into this year. But before that, th

4 practical steps for using no-code to evolve your prototype to an MVP

The age-old adage of “doing more with less” is particularly critical advice for both startups and enterprises right now. Venture funding has hit its lowest point in two years, which means startups must now focus on making hard decisions about how to utilize their limited budgets. Enterprises ar

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone joins board of audiovisual startup Chroma

Chroma, a startup working to build a new type of audiovisual entertainment specifically for mobile devices, is now adding a Twitter co-founder to its board. The company announced today that Twitter and Medium co-founder Biz Stone, previously an angel investor in Chroma alongside Pinterest’s f

Inscribe bags $25M to fight financial fraud with AI

Conor Burke spent much of his career in the back office of a big bank in Ireland. His team was tasked with digitizing the onboarding process — particularly document-heavy manual review workflows — that were costing the bank millions of dollars every year and not catching fraud. Accordin

Stripe eyes an exit over next 12 months

Fintech startup Stripe has set a 12-month deadline for itself to go public, either through a direct listing, or pursuing a transaction on the private market, such as a fundraising event and a tender offer, according to sources familiar with the matter. The news, as first reported by the Wall Street

Renaissance Fusion raises $16.4 million to build nuclear fusion technology in Europe

Meet Renaissance Fusion, a Grenoble-based startup that has been working on nuclear fusion for the past couple of years. The company recently raised $16.4 million (€15 million) in funding in a seed round led by Lowercarbon Capital. Several European investors also participated in the round, such as

Method raises $16M to power loan repayment, balance transfers and more across fintech apps

Method, a startup that aims to make it easier for fintech developers to embed repayment, balance transfers and bill pay automation into their apps, today announced that it closed a $16 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Truist Ventures, Y Combinator (

Upp wants to add more broccoli to the plant-protein mix using big automation

What is automation good for? Harvesting more broccoli than human laborers can, according to Upp, a Shropshire, U.K.-based agtech startup that’s using computer vision AI plus farm-sized proprietary machinery to expand crop yields. Its pitch is not only that its specialist, AI-driven harvester

Kenya’s growth was strongest in Africa’s VC market; clean tech, e-commerce pulled in most of the funding

As VC activity slowed down globally last year, Kenya defied odds to record the strongest growth in funding raised in Africa. Reports show that the deal count and value to the country surpassed 2021 figures owing to increased investor interest. Data from market intelligence firm Briter Bridges, and

Mushroom protein company Meati Foods opens 'mega' facility; closes $22M in new funding

Meati Foods is closer to full-scale production of its whole-food protein made from the structural fibers of mushrooms, known as mycelium. The company announced Thursday the opening of its production facility, dubbed “Mega Ranch,” in Colorado. The 100,000-square-foot facility was financed in par

Hawk AI, an anti-money laundering and fraud prevention platform for banks, raises $17M

Hawk AI, a German company developing anti-money laundering (AML) and tangential fraud prevention smarts for financial institutions, has raised $17 million in a Series B round of funding. Prior to now, Hawk AI had raised $10 million, and with a fresh $17 million in the bank, the company said that it

This startup hopes to take on Canva, raising an $11.6M Series A for its design platform

Despite Canva being worth in the region of $26 billion, it appears startups feel there is still plenty to be mined from this “easy-to-use design platform” arena. Admittedly, Professional Adobe tools remain fiddly for most people. Perhaps that's why Berlin-based startup Kittl has now

Walmart readies another $2.5 billion investment in India’s e-commerce and payments

Walmart is preparing to spend over $2.5 billion in India as the retailer doubles down on the opportunities it sees in India’s e-commerce and payments markets even as the firm contends with rising costs amid the market downturns. Walmart spent about $780 million earlier this month in taxes aft

Qiara is a new home security service for the French market

If you live in France and you want to add a security system to your home, you don't have a ton of options. You can contact a home security company like Verisure and Homiris. But you'll end up paying expensive subscription fees with long-term contracts. You can also buy your own security cam