New York-based Mobot has publicly launched its QA-as-a-service platform and closed $12.5 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Cota Capital, a firm that recently backed Token.io, with participation from Heavybit, Uncorrelated Ventures, and others. Eden Full Goh founded Mobot in 2018 in New York after a decade of experience in engineering and product. Her journey? She dropped out of Princeton to build SunSaluter, a low-cost solar panel rotator used in developing countries around the world, with an entrepreneurship fellowship from The Thiel Foundation. After realizing the
Float, a Ghanaian cash flow and spend management platform, has completed a full acquisition of the Nigerian accounting platform, Accounteer. This Nigerian subscription-based cloud-based accounting service combines bookkeeping, tax prep, and financial advisory services all in one platform for African businesses, for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2015 by Merijn Campsteyn, Accounteer allows users to create invoices, track expenses, and register payments, among other things. The venture-backed company provides accounting software that allows businesses to continue operations offline. According to previous reports – this deal comes eight months after Float closed its
Last Friday at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya’s outgoing president, Uhuru Kenyatta, announced the addition of coding as a subject into its primary and secondary schools curricula. With this new breakthrough, Kenya reportedly becomes the first African government to recognize coding as a topic of study in the two early schools. “I congratulate the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development for guiding our country to this historic milestone by including coding as a crucial ability inside our new Competency Based Curriculum,” Kenyatta announced. Kodris Africa, an online publishing company specializing
Many startup cofounders have exciting stories to share about how they met. From bonding as college roommates or former colleagues to surprise encounters leading to entrepreneurial adventures but for some, that perfect cofounder is found through a match-making platform. Damilare Ogunleye is the co-founder and CEO of FoodLama. He runs the Google-backed startup with his cofounder – 18-year-old Santiago Schmitt. But how does the startup work? FoodLama is a free-to-install-and-use browser extension that simplifies online grocery shopping with preferences. By taking into account your household’s individual allergies, preferences, and needs,
UK-based elderly care platform Cera has raised a £260m round of roughly half equity and half debt to grow the number of patients it supports by 500% and expand overseas. The funding round was led by the existing investor, US-based Kairos HQ. Vanderbilt University Endowment, Schroders Capital, Jane Street Capital, Yabeo Capital, Squarepoint Capital, Guinness Asset Management, Oltre Impact, and 8090 Partners also participated. LocalGlobe’s Robin Klein joined as an angel. The round is the second time the startup has raised debt after its previous $70m round — which was also
Black-owned real estate tech startup, Rhove, has announced its new partnership with housing changemakers in New Orleans to promote economic inclusion. The partnership, which includes Forward Together New Orleans, The Mayor’s Fund, and The Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA), will provide a grant to fund credit to help 2,000 residents invest in commercial real estate using the Rhove app. Rhove, founded by Calvin Cooper, is a fintech company designed to empower everyone to invest in and own real estate. The company, located in Ohio, is on a mission to
Global Tech Advocates Black Women In Tech has launched their first ever Voices In The Shadows festival, which will take place in London, UK this October. The festival has been sponsored by industry giants including Google, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Discovery+, and more. Inspired by The Voices in The Shadow books, which was first published last year, the program will showcase the journeys of 51 Black women in the UK who have impacted the tech industry. The event aims to provide all attendees with an intimate setting to help them connect
Timbaland and Swizz Beatz’ relationship with short-form music video app Triller has taken a turn for the worst. According to reports, the pair have decided to sue Triller after alleging they refused to pay them $28 million after acquiring Verzuz, a rap-battle show they founded during the first peak of the pandemic. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Timbaland and Swizz Beats entered a settlement and signed a payment agreement with the platform. The deal meant Triller was supposed to pay the pair $9 million each and $500,000 on the first of
Incredible Health, an award-winning job-matching platform for nurses, has closed an $80 million Series B funding round. The latest funding round was led by Base10 Partners, including investors Andreessen Horowitz and Obvious Ventures. To date, the digital marketplace has hit a staggering $1.65 billion valuation, making its founder, Dr Iman Abuzeid, one of the very few Black female founders spearheading a unicorn company. Abuzeid founded the nurse-hiring startup in 2017 to act as the bridge between healthcare workers and industry hires, matching “the right nurse with the right role at
Is there anything the Grammy-award-winning musician can’t do? After releasing his fifth studio album, Kendrick Lamar is moving into new territory with billionaire investor Ray Dalio and comedian ExavierTV to discuss all things money as a part of Cash App’s ongoing “That’s Money” campaign. Popular finance app, CashApp, announced the launch of its new commercial on its YouTube channel. According to the clip, EXavier saved up money to open his franchise but lost it all due to gambling. Kendrick asks for Dalio’s opinion on the situation, and he explains exactly where he
