The UK’s £5B Project Gigabit gives out first contract to connect rural areas to high-speed broadband

The first major subsidy contract under the U.K. government’s £5 billion ($5.9 billion) Project Gigabit scheme has officially been awarded, with Wessex Internet securing £6 million ($7 million) to connect remote properties in South West England to high-speed broadband.  In a world that has

Flush with fresh funds, UK ‘eco laundry’ startup Oxwash spins up growth plans

Oxwash, a U.K. startup that’s spent the last few years applying high tech processes to shrink the environment cost of dry cleaning and commercial laundry, has trousered £10 million (~$12 million) in Series A funding to expand its nationwide footprint. Currently its service is available in fi

Kenyan fintech Pezesha raises $11M backed by Women’s World Banking, Cardano parent IOG

Access to finance remains a key growth constraint for small businesses, with data showing a $330 billion financing deficit for the small enterprises that make up 90% of Africa's businesses. This is the gap that Kenya's embedded finance fintech Pezesha seeks to bridge as it expands into Nige

Dubai-based Stake raises $8 million to let people across the globe invest in local properties

Dubai-based startup Stake is offering retail investors from across the globe the opportunity to buy fractions of rental property in UAE's marquee city and earn regular income. The startup, founded in 2020, claims that because of Dubai's real estate rules it has managed to attract investing

PostEx acquires Call Courier to become Pakistan's largest e-commerce service provider

Pakistani fintech PostEx has acquired logistics service provider Call Courier, creating what it describes as the largest e-commerce service provider in the country. PostEx will now serve 1.3 million users with over 8,000 merchants across 500 cities in Pakistan, and is on track to having a monthly l

Peter Thiel backs electronics marketplace PriceOye in maiden Pakistan investment

A Pakistani startup, which has taken inspiration from China’s JD.com and India’s Flipkart to build a managed marketplace of electronics products, said on Tuesday it has raised seed funding from scores of investors, including PayPal founder Peter Thiel. Launched in March 2020 — just tw

Singapore-based career development platform Glints recruits $50M in new funding

Glints, one of Southeast Asia's largest talent development and recruitment platforms, announced today it has raised $50 million in an oversubscribed Series D. The round was co-led by DCM Ventures, Lavender Hill Capital and returning investor PERSOL Holdings. This brings Glints' total raised

Singapore-based Propseller uses data to take the hassle out of real estate transactions

Headquartered in Singapore, proptech startup Propseller is on a mission to make real estate transactions more efficient and data-driven for sellers and buyers alike. Its platform is able to tell users the likelihood of a conversion each step of the way. Today Propseller announced it has raised $12

Daily Crunch: Meta partnership allows Indian WhatsApp users to browse and buy groceries via JioMart

To get a roundup of technewss's biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Good morning, you crunchy ol’ pirates. Good to see you again, and hope you had a swell weekend. On Wednesday, we're hosting a healthcare-focused TechCru

Garry Tan’s return is a full circle moment for Y Combinator

Initialized Capital was venture capitalist Garry Tan's answer to a need first highlighted by Y Combinator. As a partner at the accelerator from 2010 to 2015, Tan spent time working with companies to better understand what they needed from investors after they graduated. “I literally built the

Neurofenix puts a new spin on home stroke rehabilitation with the NeuroBall

Millions around the world suffer strokes every year, and millions more are in recovery from one they’ve suffered. Regaining the use of affected limbs and capabilities is a long road, but one that can be shortened by intensive rehabilitation efforts — which Neurofenix has shown can take plac

Investors detail their red (and green) flags for startups seeking venture dollars

The past few months have hit the startup community where it hurts — the balance sheet. With inflation rates at record highs, a recession on the horizon and threats of a long winter by venture capital giants like SoftBank, VC money is becoming harder to come by. So where does that leave start

Data analytics startup StarTree secures cash to expand its Apache Pinot-powered platform

StarTree, a company building what it describes as an “analytics-as-a-service” platform, today announced that it raised $47 million in a Series B round led by GGV Capital with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and CRV. In an email interview, co-founder and CEO

Nigeria's Grey raises $2M for cross-border payments play and regional expansion

The provision of virtual foreign bank accounts has become a common strategy for fintechs to enable Nigerians and Africans to facilitate international transfers. In the latest development, Grey, a fintech in this category that provides virtual international bank accounts to African freelancers and r