African fintech startup Chipper Cash raises $30M backed by Jeff Bezos Tech and Gaming Blog Technology by Jake Bright - November 19, 20200 African cross-border fintech startup Chipper Cash has raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital with participation of Bezos Expeditions — the personal VC fund of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Chipper Cash was founded in San Francisco in 2018 by Ugandan Ham Serunjogi and Ghanaian Maijid Moujaled. The company
Tarform unveils Luna e-moto for folks who may not like motorcycles Tech and Gaming Blog Technology by Jake Bright - September 11, 20200 Brooklyn-based EV startup Taform unveiled its Luna electric motorcycle in New York last week—a model designed for an audience that may not actually like motorcycles. Tarform’s first street legal entrant, the Luna, starts at $24,000, does 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds, has a city range of 120 miles, top-speed of 120
African payment startup Chipper Cash raises $13.8M Series A Tech and Gaming Blog Technology by Jake Bright - June 17, 20200 African cross-border fintech startup Chipper Cash has closed a $13.8 million Series A funding round led by Deciens Capital and plans to hire 30 new staff globally. The raise caps an event filled run for the San Francisco based payments company, founded two years ago by Ugandan Ham Serunjogi and Ghanaian Maijid
U.S. House approves remote voting, though the tech is unclear Cyber Security by Jake Bright - May 19, 20200 Congress will allow remote voting for the first time in its history, after the U.S. House approved Resolution 965 late Friday in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The measure — sponsored by Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern — authorizes proxy voting by members for renewable periods of 45 days and allows for
Goldman backed ventures Jumia and Twiga partner on produce in Kenya Tech and Gaming Blog Technology by Jake Bright - April 28, 20200 Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia and B2B agtech startup Twiga Foods are partnering to deliver produce in Kenya using adaptive measures during COVID-19. In 2019, Jumia became the first VC funded tech company in Africa to list on a major exchange, the NYSE. Based in Nairobi, Twiga raised a $30
Zindi taps 12,000 African data scientists for solutions to COVID-19 Cyber Security by Jake Bright - March 26, 20200 Since its inception, Cape Town based crowdsolving startup Zindi has been building a database of data scientists across Africa. It now has 12,000 registered on its its platform that uses AI and machine learning to tackle complex problems and will offer them cash-prizes to find solutions to curb COVID-19. Zindi has
Silicon Valley could be Biden’s funding lifeline post South Carolina Cyber Security by Jake Bright - March 6, 20200 Presidential candidate Joe Biden is likely to throw a fundraising lifeline to Silicon Valley after his commanding South Carolina victory and heading into the next wave of primaries. A pro-Biden Super PAC, Unite the Country — whose past backers include senior tech figures — is picking up efforts to tap
Africa Roundup: TLcom closes $71M fund, Jumo raises $55M, AWS partners with Safaricom Cyber Security by Jake Bright - March 3, 20200 VC firm TLcom Capital closed its Tide Africa Fund at $71 million in February, and announced plans to invest in 12 startup over the next 18 months. The group — with offices in London, Lagos, and Nairobi — is looking for tech-enabled, revenue-driven ventures in Africa from seed-stage to Series B, according
AWS partners with Kenya’s Safaricom on cloud and consulting services Cyber Security by Jake Bright - March 1, 20200 Amazon Web Services has entered a partnership with Safaricom — Kenya’s largest telco, ISP and mobile payment provider — in a collaboration that could spell competition between American cloud providers in Africa. In a statement to TechCrunch, the East African company framed the arrangement as a “strategic agreement” whereby Safaricom
African crowdsolving startup Zindi scales 10,000 data scientists Cyber Security by Jake Bright - February 20, 20200 Cape Town based startup Zindi has registered 10,000 data-scientists on its platform that uses AI and machine learning to crowdsolve complex problems in Africa. Founded in 2018, the early-stage venture allows companies, NGOs or government institutions to host online competitions around data-oriented challenges. Zindi opens the contests to the African data scientists