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Brainly Raises $80 Million as Its Platform for Crowdsourced Homework Help Balloons to 350 Million Users
Brainly, a startup from Poland that has built a popular network for students and their parents to engage with each other for advice and help with homework questions, has raised $80 million, a series D that it will be using both to continue building out the tools that it offers to students as well as to home in on expansion in some key emerging markets such as Indonesia and Brazil. The news comes on the heels of dramatic growth for the company, which has seen its user base grow from 150 million users in 2019 to 350 million today.
- Categories
- Education
- Tags
- startups
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Businesses Behaving Badly: The Troubling Parallels Between Microfinance and Facebook
Chuck Waterfield left microfinance five years ago, after working in the sector for three decades. He stopped using Facebook three years ago, after using the platform for about 10 years. As he explains, he left them both for a similar reason: Their business models have grown increasingly problematic over time – and without external intervention, things are likely to get worse.
- Categories
- Finance, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Unity During the Pandemic: How the Social Enterprise Community is Coming Together to Survive COVID-19
The economic fallout from COVID-19 could increase global poverty by as much as half a billion people. And as Pamela Roussos at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship points out, the pandemic is also delivering a heavy blow to the social enterprises that fight poverty around the world. She explores some new and innovative ways these enterprises, and the broader sector, are responding to the crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Social Enterprise
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Facing Up to Failure: An Open Letter to Entrepreneurs During COVID-19
Leading a startup is hard. Leading a purpose-driven startup is harder. And as Mike Quinn, co-founder of Zoona writes, leading a purpose-driven startup while a deadly global pandemic has shut down the entire economy is almost impossible. In this heartfelt letter, he offers some straight talk – and a surprising silver lining – to help entrepreneurs through this unprecedented time.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- COVID-19, failure, social enterprise, startups
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Arya Raises $21 Million to Provide Farmers in India Finance and Post-Harvest Services
Only about a third of the yields Indian farmers produce reaches the big markets. Those whose produce makes it there today are able to leverage post-harvest services. Everyone else is missing out.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Press Release: Ilara Health Raises $3.75 Million Series A Led by TLcom to Provide Life-Saving Diagnostics Across Sub-Saharan Africa
Ilara Health, an innovative healthtech start-up increasing essential and affordable access to life-saving diagnostics in Africa, has raised $3.75 million in Series A funding led by TLcom Capital with participation from DOB Equity, Global Ventures and Chandaria Capital.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- scale, social enterprise, startups
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IFC and Kobo360 Partner to Support Innovative Solutions in Nigeria’s Agriculture and Health Sectors
The International Financial Corporation (IFC) in partnership with African e-logistics start-up, Kobo360 has announced a call for innovators all over the world to bring climate-smart, Temperature-Controlled Logistics (TCL) cooling solutions to Nigeria to help the country address food waste challenges, support its health sector, and reduce its energy consumption.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- startups
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IBM Supports African Agricultural Startups Through Digital4Agriculture Initiative
Digital4Agriculture Initiative is helping over 36 African agriculture startups become better prepared for the digital future.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- startups