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The Value and Limitations of Market-Based Innovations for Impact: Three Takeaways After COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has made one thing clear: Digital innovation in service delivery and infrastructure is critical to economic inclusion – both in emerging markets and around the world. But as Tilman Ehrbeck at Flourish Ventures points out, the crisis has also provided a humble reminder that digital infrastructure, private-sector innovation and market-based solutions are not sufficient to ensure broad-based prosperity. He shares three observations, rooted in the experiences of the pandemic, about the value — and limitations — of private-sector approaches in a post-COVID-19 world.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology
- Tags
- COVID-19, digital finance, scale
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Kenya’s Wapi Pay Raises $2.2 Million Pre-Seed for Cross-Border Payments Between Africa and Asia
Wapi Pay will use the investments to engage regulators for licensing across Africa and for scale, product and geographical expansion.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Egyptian Social E-Commerce Startup Taager Closes $6.4 Million Seed Round
Egyptian social e-commerce startup Taager has raised a US$6.4 million seed funding round to help it scale its platform and expand across the Middle East.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- e-commerce, scale, startups
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Press Release: New Reporting Standards Could Energize the Off-Grid Solar Industry
The framework represents a significant step in helping attract the capital needed to lift millions of people out of energy poverty.
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment, Technology
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Scaling Biodigesters: How Appropriate Financing Can Help This Undervalued Technology Deliver Social and Environmental Impact
Biodigesters break down organic material to produce biogas for cooking and heating, along with fertilizer. But though these applications are extremely useful for farming households, uptake remains limited: In Africa alone, the technology could be adopted by almost 33 million households, but market penetration is less than 1% of that. Tanya Kothari of the Catalysing Agriculture by Scaling Energy Ecosystems program shares a recent study from the Shell Foundation exploring the impact biodigesters can make, while identifying the kinds of financing that could support growth in the market.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy
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Press Release: Convergence Provides Funding to Protect Critical Habitat and Advance Sustainable Agriculture in Indonesia
Convergence awards a feasibility study grant to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to develop a blended finance solution in Indonesia that increases access to credit and training for smallholder coffee farmers to engage in sustainable agriculture
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- South Asia
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Kenyan Foodtech Startup Kune Raises $1 Million Pre-Seed for Its Ready-to-Eat Meals Service
Kenyan foodtech startup Kune has announced that it has closed a $1 million pre-seed round to launch its on-demand food service in August.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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South African Partnership Gets $3 Million and Launches Telehealth Product
A new platform is launching out of South Africa and it wants to provide accessible quality care for Africans with its telehealth service.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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