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India’s Paytm Is Raising Another $400M to Build Out Its New Payment Bank
Alibaba-backed Paytm, one of the bigger e-commerce startups competing against Amazon in India, is raising money again, just months after a reported $680 million round. Sources close to the company say that Paytm is now looking to raise $400 million by June to help with the launch of Paytm’s new payments business, Paytm Payment Bank.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech
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WorldRemit Raises $45M to Tackle $600B Market
Remittances start-up WorldRemit has raised $45 million in debt to help it tap the business of using mobile wallets to send money across emerging markets.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech, remittances
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Viewpoint: Gene Drives Need Global Policing
Medical and biological research is being transformed by a powerful new form of genetic editing, known by the acronym Crispr. Based on a naturally-occurring system in bacteria, Crispr enables scientists to precisely alter the genetic code of any organism they can lay their hands on – humans included.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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African Equity Crowdfunding Portal Launches Call for Applications
Impact-focused equity crowdfunding portal Malaik has launched a call for applications to African entrepreneurs with impact focused businesses, aiming to help connect businesses with investors.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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This Solar Innovation by a Swedish Artist Uses Surprisingly Simple Technology to Save Lives
Petra Wadström, a Swedish designer and artist now in her 60s, doesn’t have an engineering background. Back in 2005, when she came up with the idea for Solvatten—a piece of equipment that makes contaminated water safe to drink—she also didn’t know much about solar power.
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care, Technology
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India Blocks Zuckerberg’s Free Net App
India's telecoms regulator has blocked Facebook's Free Basics internet service app as part of a ruling in favour of net neutrality.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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We Have the Technology to Destroy All Zika Mosquitoes
A controversial genetic technology able to wipe out the mosquito carrying the Zika virus will be available within months, scientists say.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Move Over Facebook: WeChat Is Set to Become the Only App African Internet Users Need
As technology hubs from Silicon Valley to Bangalore work hard at devising digital approaches to finance that could alter the global banking landscape, mobile banking penetration in China has already exceeded390 million people. And for Chinese-owned Tencent Holdings, the world's fifth largest Internet company, China's 1.3 billion-strong market is just the beginning. The tech giant's best-known social network, WeChat, is fast gaining traction in Africa, and mobile banking is one area in which its influence is spreading.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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