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Revenue Over Rounds: Why We Should Encourage Entrepreneurs to Focus on Revenue Before Fundraising
Before the fallout from coronavirus, 2019 was a banner year for startup investment in Latin America. But Daniel Cossio at Village Capital cautions that Silicon Valley-levels of funding could incentivize startups to scale too big, too fast — leading to high-profile failures. He urges investors and entrepreneurs to resist the growth-at-all costs mentality and come up with an alternative definition of startup success.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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From the Valley of Death to a $14 Million Series A: Sokowatch, Quona and the Role of Philanthropic Capital
The e-commerce company Sokowatch recently raised a $14 million Series A round, enabling it to expand its digital financial services to more merchants in Africa. But just two years ago, the company was in danger of going under. Malika Anand and Maelis Carraro at BFA’s Catalyst Fund discuss how the fund's philanthropically-funded acceleration approach has helped Sokowatch – and other promising fintech startups – survive the “valley of death” and position themselves for commercial investment.
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Coronavirus, Economic Meltdown And The World Of Impact: Insights From Allie Burns Of Village Capital
Allie Burns is CEO of Village Capital, which has run early-stage startup accelerators and boot camps for social enterprises since its founding in 2009.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
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How Can Fintech Startups Address the Financial Inclusion Gap? Three Insights from the Data Standards for Inclusive Fintech
In 2018, over US $110 billion was invested in fintech startups – up 120% from 2017. But will this capital help deliver affordable and accessible solutions to low-income customers at scale? Chrissy Martin Meier at MIX explores why standardized data can highlight gaps in investment, surface promising companies, and more effectively measure inclusion – and how MIX's Data Standards for Inclusive Fintech advance those goals.
- Categories
- Finance
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Visa Partners With Paga on Payments and Fintech for Africa and Abroad
The collaboration reflects a strategy of the American financial services giant to expand in Africa working with the continent’s top startups.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech, startups
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Microsoft, Accenture Join to Provide Tech Support to Social Enterprise Startups
Through the programme, Microsoft Research India and Accenture Labs will help social enterprise startups test and validate proof-of-concepts, conduct design thinking sessions to help them re-envision the impact of their solutions, and provide support in exploring and using Microsoft technologies.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
- Tags
- startups
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Microsoft, Accenture join to provide tech support to social enterprise startups
Intending to help deepen the reach of entrepreneurs and start-ups that are focused on social impact and sustainability, the joint initiative by Microsoft and Accenture aims to provide hands-on support and technologies to social enterprises, helping them build scalable solutions and business models that can lead to more tangible and lasting benefits.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- startups
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Sokowatch Raises $14M to Digitize Africa’s Informal B2B Supply-Chain
Informal retail is still king in Africa — even with the emergence of shopping malls and well-funded e-commerce ventures, such as Jumia.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- e-commerce, startups, supply chains
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