Bento, a digital payroll and human resource management platform, is expanding to Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda with plans to set up operations in six other markets in Africa over the next year. The startup, founded in 2019, is helping businesses automate the disbursement of salaries and other statutory remittances, including taxes and pensions. Bento said that its platform is leveraging data to extend credit solutions to third parties (employees) and other services like unemployment insurance, savings, and investments. Its proprietary credit engine, built in partnership with Israel’s Tarya, ensures the
Black Enterprise — one of the US’ leading Black digital media brands, with more than 8 million monthly unique visitors—will present its inaugural Sisters Inc. Summit on December 7. The event will feature some of the most influential and dynamic business owners. They will feature in a candid conversation with each other—and the corporations and investors who support them. Whether you consider yourself a founder, a CEO, a boss, or a side-hustler, SistersInc. is said to represent “a unique and valuable opportunity to connect to a powerful sisterhood of success to share resources,
Angela Muhwezi-Hall and Deborah Gladney’s dating app style platform matching job seekers with employers have raised $1.41 million. According to Project Diane, the pair, who launched the QuickHire app last fall, became the first Black women in Kansas to raise at least a million dollars in capital, which tracks minority women-led startups. Its users are encouraged to upload intro videos to demonstrate their soft skills. Muhwezi-Hall told Kansas news that almost 70 paying companies and 12,000 job-seekers already use the app. Users enter their ZIP code and are instantly shown
Europe is “solidifying its place as a global tech power”, according to Atomico’s annual State of European Tech 2021 report. However, research still shows women and minorities are not being given enough investment. European tech is projected to cross the $100B milestones of capital invested in a single year, close to 3 times the level in 2020, reported Dealroom. The total number of tech companies that have scaled to $1B+ in Europe has jumped from 223 last year to 321. Large rounds ($250M+) are now the norm in Europe —
TradeDepot, a Nigeria- and U.S.-based company that connects consumer goods brands to thousands of retailers and helps with distribution, has raised $110 million in new equity and debt funding. TradeDepot operates a B2B marketplace that connects small shops, kiosks, and retailers with wholesalers of global consumer brands that have access to food, beverages, and personal care products. The company owns its warehouses and fleets of drivers to carry out the distribution. It now plans to bring in more retail stores and expand its buy, pay later service across the continent.
Equinix has announced its plans to acquire MainOne, a West African data center and connectivity solutions provider in Nigeria, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast, for $320 million. Armed with over $200 million in equity and debt investment, MainOne was built as West Africa’s first privately owned, open access undersea high capacity cable submarine. It’s a 7,000-kilometer cable stretching from Portugal to West Africa with landings along Accra in Ghana, Dakar in Senegal, Abidjan in the Ivory Coast, and Lagos in Nigeria. Funke Opeke launched MainOne in 2010 after noticing the poor internet
MarketForce, a Kenyan B2B retail and financial services distribution startup has expanded into five additional markets across Africa to grow RejaReja — its retailer ‘super app’ that allows informal merchants to order and pay for inventory digitally. The startup has partnered with Cellulant, a pan-African payments company that makes it possible for local and international merchants to accept “locally appropriate and alternative” payment methods from their customers to expand into these new markets. Cellulant has partnerships with 46 mobile-money operators in Africa, 120 banks and serves 35 African countries with a physical
A tech company that provides human resource training to large corporations has just been revealed to be using white actors to portray people of color within sessions about diversity, equity, and inclusion. During the training sessions, there were reportedly scenarios where Child Protective Services removed a child from a Black family and in each case, white actors played the roles of the Black characters. In other VR simulations, white actors played characters of Asian descent, and neurotypical adults played autistic children. Mursion, a corporate education company that has clients including Coco cola and Starbucks, has
Kenya’s Pariti Raises $2.85M Led By Harlem Capital To Develop Startup Ecosystems In Emerging Markets
A Kenya-based community-led marketplace building the digital infrastructure for startup ecosystems in emerging markets has raised $2.85 million seed. Pariti, founded by co-founder and CEO Yacob Berhane and Wossen Ayele, had its round led by U.S.-based Harlem Capital. It’s the first deal in Africa of the VC’s diversity-focused fund that secured $134 million for its second fund earlier this year. The other investors involved were Better Ventures, Accelerated Ventures, Diverse Angels, AVG Basecamp, and New General Market Partners. According to Berhane, who launched the company in 2019 with Ayele, the company has grown 795% this
Spelman senior Inglish Hills has won the grand prize at BearWay Capital’s HBCU New Venture Challenge for her recycling system startup, Save Cycle. The start-up will undercut waste management services and pick up recyclables for businesses at a lower price. Businesses can use the Save Cycle app to schedule pick-ups and rent dumpsters. They can also track their environmental impact, making them eligible for tax advantages. Individuals will use the Save Cycle app to locate deposit boxes. Then, after disposing of their recyclables, they can scan a QR code and
