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Will 2016 Be the Year of FinTech in India?
Has Financial Technology or FinTech finally come of age in India? While, FinTech accounted only for 13.3% of the total funding raised by Indian startups in 2015, the gross investment into it was up 8 times over the equivalent 2014 number of $145.1 million. While that looks amazing at first glance, it has to be noted that m-commerce platform One97 (Paytm) accounted for about 74% of the money raised by FinTech companies this year. Nonetheless, even if one were to exclude this number, Indian FinTech investment has doubled over the 2014 number. India’s FinTech sector has been a far cry from its global peers, accounting only for 6% of the total global FinTech space (by funding), but clearly as the numbers above show, that is changing fairly rapidly.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Mobile Money and Other Kenyan Tech Trends to Watch Out for in 2016
If there is one tech lesson we (hopefully) learned in 2015 is that the average Kenyan knows what they want and will go the extra length to glean the most value at the best possible price. We saw consumers emerge big winners in 2015 at the height of mobile data wars, the digital migration tussle, mobile manufacturers introducing smarter, cheaper smart phones in the market and financial institutions customizing mobile services.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments
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Evolko Systems Targets Rural India With New Health Solutions
Sickness is a great equalizer -- it hits the poor and the rich uniformly. While most startups in the healthcare sector have been on a frenzy to tap the urban markets, a San Francisco-based firm has devised a method to successfully cater to the bottom of the pyramid at scale.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Improving Lives and Livelihoods With Better Healthcare in Chile
The Chilean company AccuHealth, a pioneer in virtual clinical hospitals, has joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) with a patient-centric tele-monitoring service designed to improve the health and livelihoods of chronically ill patients with value-added medical care at an affordable cost. BCtA is a global initiative that encourages companies to fight poverty through inclusive business models. It is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other international organizations.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Youth Jobs 2.0
Youth unemployment is a complex issue with no easy fix; the global economy needs to create almost 2.5 million jobs each month to absorb the youth entering the market in the next decade. But digital technoloy offers some solutions if certain concrete steps are taken – and if there's collaboration between public and private sectors.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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Financial Inclusion Trends and Innovators Already Lighting Up 2015
What will 2015 hold for financial inclusion innovations? Accion Venture Lab highlights some current groundbreaking trends, and several seed stage companies leading the charge.
- Categories
- Technology
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The Most Popular Posts of 2015: Which One Most Influenced You?
For the fourth year in a row, we're launching our Most Influential Post of the Year Contest – think of it as a listicle that you control. Below are the 12 most viewed articles on NB by month. Please read or re-read them and then vote for your favorite(s).
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Multinationals Get Back to Basics
On August 24, 2015, for the first time, more than one billion people used Facebook in a single day. It's easy to think that the Internet has engulfed the world and communities across the globe are perpetually mesmerised by smartphones. Yet, the reality is very different. More than four billion people - or over half the world's population - still don't have access to the Internet, reports ITU, a United Nations agency.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia