OMG Digital, the Ghana-based media startup dubbed the “BuzzFeed of Africa,” announced today that it has raised $1.1 million in seed funding. Its main site, OMG Voice, already has versions for Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya, and the new capital will be used to expand into more countries. Read More
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Wefox, the insurance platform that enables customers, insurance brokers and insurance providers to transact and manage insurance products digitally, has acquired One, a fully digital and newly launched insurance provider. Read More
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In the wake of allegations of sexual harassment and the resignation of Binary Capital co-founder Justin Caldbeck, the firm has delayed closing its second fund, Axios reports. Caldbeck issued a statement saying he would take an indefinite leave of absence after multiple women in the tech industry alleged they faced unwanted and inappropriate advances from him. The Information first reported… Read More
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Space tech company Satellogic has raised $27 million in a Series B round led by Chinese internet giant Tencent, and with participation by CrunchFund (disclosure: co-founded by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington). The company also launches its sixth micro-satellite into orbit on June 15, aboard a Long March-4B rocket that took off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. What Satellogic… Read More
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Word recently spread that Google had quietly launched a new fund for investing into AI companies. Now this fund has made its first (or at least its first public) investment, leading a $10.5 million Series A into Algorithmia, a marketplace and enterprise solution that allows developers to easily tap into its catalog of 3,500 algorithms, functions and machine-learning models. Read More
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Razer has invested close to $20 million into Malaysia-based online payment firm MOL Global as part of a push to establish its virtual currency for gamers in Asia. The deal sees Razer subsidiary ZV-Midas buy equity from existing backers MOL Investment and Hotel Resort Enterprise in a deal that values the MOL Global business at around the $100 million mark. Gaming company Razer, which made… Read More
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Today, at Elastic’s customer event in London, the company announced it has acquired Opbeat, a SaaS-application performance management vendor for an undisclosed amount. All 15 employees have already joined the Elastic team. Opbeat focuses on monitoring applications written in Javascript. What’s more, it maps production application issues directly to the relevant developer source… Read More
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Not so long ago the administration needed to run a major construction project relied almost entirely on pen, paper, excel spreadsheets and faxes. That has provided a huge opportunity for startups to take a stab at digitising the construction industry. Brussels-based Aproplan, which bills itself as akin to “Salesforce for construction,” is one such company, and today is disclosing… Read More
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JD.com, China’s second-largest e-commerce company after Alibaba, is pumping $397 million into Farfetch, a marketplace for luxury brands, as part of a new strategic partnership. JD.com founder and CEO Richard Liu will take a seat on Farfetch’s board as part of the deal, which makes JD.com one of its largest shareholders. Read More
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Chinese startup Tantan, which is probably most comparable to Tinder, has raised $70 million in new capital as it looks to monetize its business for the first time and explore overseas expansion options. Three-year-old Tantan claims 60 million ‘validated’ users — i.e. not fake accounts — of which six million are active on a daily basis. Of those active users, 75 percent… Read More
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