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South African Digital Lender Lulalend to Launch Banking Product Off the Back of $35 Million Series B
The digital lender, launched in 2014, has raised $35 million in a Series B round led by international impact investor Lightrock, with participation from new investors.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Delivering on Mass Market Insurance in Africa: Debunking the Myth of Low Demand
Africa’s insurance penetration rate in 2019 was only 2.78%, significantly lower than the global average — and insurance usage is concentrated among the urban elite, with minimal adoption among the people with the most risk of financial shocks. According to Ted Pantone at Turaco, there's a widespread belief in the industry that this lack of uptake means African customers don't see value in the benefits of insurance. But he argues that Turaco’s rapid growth in Africa is debunking that myth. He explores three aspects of the company's model that have enabled it to unlock African customers' latent demand for insurance.
- Categories
- Finance
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PhonePe Raises $350 Million From General Atlantic at $12 Billion Valuation
Walmart-owned PhonePe on Thursday said it has $350 million in its latest funding round from General Atlantic at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion.
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Colombian Proptech Unicorn Habi Obtains $6.3 Million Credit Line
With these funds, Habi will strengthen its operations and portfolio in Colombia.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- digital finance, housing, startups
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KYC is a Journey, Not a Destination: The Value of Know-Your-Customer Innovation for African Tech Startups
Identity theft is increasingly common in Africa, and the problem is likely to get worse. According to Lanre Ogungbe at Identitypass, digital access is expanding rapidly on the continent, and tech startups are under pressure to create frictionless signup processes for new users, which sometimes comes at the expense of better security. He argues that this has created an urgent need for better Know Your Customer (KYC) processes, and explores why tech startups should view KYC not as a regulatory obligation, but rather as an opportunity for innovation that can improve their products, protect their customers and increase their business success.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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World Bank Provides $250 Million for Indonesia Digital ID for Public and Private Service Access
The funding will strengthen Indonesia's civil registration and increase the use of biometric digital identification for accessing public and private sector services.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Announcing NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2022
NextBillion’s “Most Influential Article of the Year” contest has concluded, and after tallying the votes, we’re excited to announce the three winners, as selected by our readers. Congratulations to the winners and their organizations! And many thanks to the other contestants, to all our guest writers from the past year – and also to the unsung heroes: the comms teams that play a key role in facilitating many of our articles.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance, Technology
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Moneyview Raises $75 Million in a Series E Funding Round in India
The proceeds of this capital raise will be used as growth capital to scale the core credit business.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific