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Micro-Lending Startup Ftcash Raises $7.23 Mn Series A Funding
Founded in 2015 by Sanjeev Chandak, Deepak Kothari and Vaibhav Lodha, Ftcash provides short-term loans to merchants. The startup plans to use the funds to accelerate product development and drive its expansion efforts.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Viewpoint: 3 Reasons the Impact of Microcredit May Be Bigger Than We Thought
There was little evidence of female empowerment. Microloans did foster entrepreneurialism, but at the cost of other sources of income. However, subsequent research has hinted that rumors of microcredit’s demise as a poverty intervention do appear to be exaggerated, perhaps substantially, and I want to present three reasons why the impact of microcredit around the world, while modest on average, is almost certainly bigger than we thought it was a few years ago.
- Categories
- Finance
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Japan’s SoftBank Taps Into Mexican Fintech Startup Clip: Sources
Japan’s SoftBank Group invested about $20 million in Mexican payments startup Clip early this year, one of its first Latin America deals as it launches a $5 billion technology fund in the region, said three people familiar with the matter.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech, startups
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Hits and Misses at Safaricom Amid Swelling Billions in Profit
During the announcement of full year results on Friday, Safaricom Chief Executive Bob Collymore told investors the company was reviewing some of its products and services that failed to gain expected traction among consumers.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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WorldCover Raises $6m Round for Emerging Markets’ Climate Insurance
WorldCover’s platform uses satellite imagery, on-ground sensors, mobile phones and data analytics to create insurance options for farmers whose crop yields are affected adversely by weather events — primarily lack of rain.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Tech’s Raid on the Banks
The implications are profound because banks are not ordinary firms. It is one thing for Blockbuster Video to be wiped out by a technological shift, but quite another if the victim is Bank of America.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Tags
- fintech
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Can Superplatforms Transform Financial Inclusion in the Least Developed Countries? Emerging Insights from Nepal
Superplatforms like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba are at the forefront of technology in countries around the world. But can their model work down market? Using insights generated by homegrown superplatforms in Nepal, Keyzom Ngodup Massally and Audrey Misquith at UNCDF discuss their potential to build a new-generation financial sector in the least developed countries.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Everything Investors Need to Know About the War on Cash
Physical forms of currency -- cash and personal checks -- are losing favor among global consumers to alternative forms of payment, including debit and credit cards, digital wallets, mobile commerce platforms, and, in some circles, even cryptocurrencies.