Africa-focused funds find their feet amid a downturn
In the midst of a funding downtime last year, and with conditions getting tougher for fund managers raising capital as backers (limited partners) enhanced their focus on strategy and track record, some new African and Africa-focused funds still emerged, with several of the existing ones receiving fresh backing. Among the
Read morePinterest announces a new ad deal with Google as it approaches 500M MAUs
Pinterest announced a new ad deal with Google as the company aims to ramp up its ad revenue. Google is the social platform’s second third-party ad partner after Amazon signed a multiyear deal with Pinterest last year. The company talked about the Google partnership during the earnings call for Q4
Read moreBootstrapped for 8 years, Xensam has now snapped up $40M for AI that manages software assets
Software asset management — an area of enterprise IT designed, in part, to help companies save money — continues to draw a lot of money itself. In the latest development, Xensam — a startup out of Stockholm that provides AI-based tools to help businesses understand and track where and how
Read moreIndian parliamentary panel red-flags PhonePe and Google Pay cornering 83% of India’s UPI payments
An Indian parliamentary panel has urged the government to support the growth of domestic fintech players that can provide alternatives to the Walmart-backed PhonePe and Google Pay apps that currently command more than 83% of the country’s fast-growing digital payments market. The 58-page report, which includes a series of recommendations,
Read moreHere are the fintech startups that could go public in 2024
Could 2024 be the year for fintech IPOs? Quite possibly, according to F-Prime Capital’s State of Fintech 2024 report. F-Prime — a VC firm with over $4.5 billion in assets under management that tracks the performance of emerging, publicly traded and privately held financial technology companies — naturally remains bullish on
Read moreCodeSignal launches a learning platform with an AI-powered guide
Technical assessment company CodeSignal, which counts Index Ventures and Menlo Ventures as backers, is launching a learning platform called CodeSignal Learn. The new platform, aimed at audiences wanting to learn technical subjects, also has an AI-powered bot called Cosmo, which helps users with learning. The company said that there are
Read moreArm’s gains are SoftBank’s gains
Not so long ago, things were looking bleak for SoftBank, the investment holding company headed by eclectic — and controversial — tech mogul Masayoshi Son. The Vision Fund, SoftBank’s venture arm, posted a $6.2 billion loss in Q2 2023, tied to WeWork and other unfortunate bets. But — thanks in
Read moreHere are my favorite Vision Pro apps (so far)
Since Apple launched the Vision Pro last Friday, I’ve been hammering home the importance of immersive content. This isn’t a radical suggestion by any means. At this point we’re all keenly aware that hardware platforms live and die by content offerings. Remember all the way back, for a moment, to
Read moreCar-sharing company Getaround cuts one-third of US workforce
Getaround, a company that helps vehicle owners rent out their cars, trucks and SUVs to other peers, is cutting 30% of its North American workforce as part of a restructuring. The company said in a statement it will restructure its workforce and operations to reduce costs in hopes of extending
Read moreFarcaster hype grows, Bluesky opens to the public and SEC’s Hester Peirce is open to new token proposals
Hello and welcome back to the fourth edition of the new and improved TechCrunch Crypto newsletter. Let’s get into the big headlines. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
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