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Identity Company Seamfix Raises $4.5 Million in First Funding Round to Expand Outside Nigeria
Seamfix, a 17-year-old identity solutions company, has raised $4.5 million in funding from Alitheia IDF, its first institutional investor as it looks to expand its business outside Nigeria.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Under-Leveraged Best Practices for Scaling Productive Use of Energy Appliances: Part 2 — Financing Options
Productive Use of Energy (PUE) appliances are the subject of growing attention in the development sector, but manufacturers and distributors are facing a number of challenges and misconceptions that are limiting uptake of these devices. In the second article of a two-part series exploring best practices for selling PUE appliances, Thomas Charoy and Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath at Hystra discuss the affordability challenge, sharing solutions for handling the high level of working capital and financial skills required to offer financing options to end-users.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Technology
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American Express Sets its Sights on Expansion and Innovation in Nigeria and Beyond
The company plans to increase its presence in Africa, with a current operation in 30 countries and a goal to expand to 42 countries in the sub-Saharan region.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, lending
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$100 Million (R1.9 billion) Investment Boon for Mobile Games, Films in South Africa
Investment company Talent10 Holdings, in collaboration with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), has committed over $100 million (almost R1.9 billion) to develop a new entertainment and gaming franchise in South Africa.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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India, Ghana Agree To Operationalise UPI Link Within 6 Months
The linking of Indian and Ghanaian instant payment systems will be the latest in India's expansion of UPI operations, which are already available in countries such as France, UAE, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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The Future of Digital Credit: A Recent Report Explores How to Make its Second Decade More Impactful Than its First
The first online lending platforms began emerging roughly two decades ago, and since then, the global digital credit market has grown to reach many formerly excluded customers. But according to Dan Cassara, previously at CEGA, this growth has raised concerns about over-indebtedness, exploitation and scams. As the market looks toward the coming decades, he shares a recent report that investigates digital credit — particularly Mobile Instant Credit and airtime loans — and explores approaches that can better protect consumers and support their financial health.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Inclusion Requires Interoperability: Why All Digital Financial Services Should be Interoperable
As of 2021, there were 1.4 billion financially excluded people globally — over 1 billion fewer than there were in 2011. As Briana Marbury at the Interledger Foundation explains, mobile money and other digital financial products and services have helped to drive this progress, reaching populations that have traditionally been excluded. But she argues that this momentum has highlighted an emerging issue that could limit the impact of the growth in financial inclusion: the lack of interoperability between digital systems.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
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Spatialedge, an AI Startup Based in South Africa, Secures $3.1 Million in Funding
Spatialedge, a South African startup providing data and applied artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, has raised ZAR60 million (US$3.1 million) to further its goal of revolutionising the retail sector.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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