News Archive | Page 4 of 22 | Flourish Ventures

[Disrupt Africa] New report lays bare lack of gender diversity in African tech startup ecosystem

Disrupt Africa has released the first ever publication focused on gender equality in the African tech startup landscape, in partnership with Africa-focused pre-seed investment programmes Madica, with the results demonstrating the lack of gender diversity both within startup teams and funding rounds on the continent. By Tom Jackson Originally posted...

[Inc. Magazine] Founders Must Prioritise Mental Health

Why well-being should matter to investors who want to nurture businesses in Africa. By Charissa Cassels, Journalist at Inc.Africa Interview originally posted on Inc.Africa 72% of founders experience adverse effects on their mental health during the entrepreneurial journey. The April 2023 report from Startup Snapshot entitled “The Untold Toll: The Impact of...

[TechCrunch] Capital crunch shines light on the importance of founders’ mental health

Mental wellness goes hand-in-hand with innovation and success. For investors then, this needs to be a focus of investment, as risk exposure is also in the wellness of the founder. By Tage Kene-Okafor @ulonnaya Originally posted on TechCrunch To explore the issue, TechCrunch had a chat with Ameya Upadhyay and Lisa Mikkelsen of Flourish...

[Banking Dive] Debt repayment fintech Clerkie raises $33M in Series A

“Our goal is to support struggling American families by giving them better tools to responsibly fulfill their debt obligations and ease their debt burden,” said founder Guy Assad. Clerkie, a fintech providing debt repayment and optimization technology for lenders, announced a $33 million Series A round led by Left Lane...

[IMF Connect] MaxAB CEO Featured on IMF Spring Meetings Panel Regarding Middle East Entrepreneurship

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is one of the most youthful regions in the world. It has an opportunity to embrace the digitalization drive to address its long-term economic challenges of stubbornly high unemployment, low productivity, inequality, and a wide gender gap. At this year’s IMF Spring Meetings held last...

[Whitehouse.gov] Vice President Harris Announces Over $7 Billion in Private Sector and U.S. Government Commitments to Promote Climate Resilience, Adaptation, and Mitigation across Africa

In Lusaka, Zambia, in response to Vice President Kamala Harris’s call for the private sector to promote and enhance climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation across Africa, the private sector made over $7 billion in new commitments. Additionally, the U.S. Government is announcing new federal funding and initiatives to expand access to...

[APN NEWS] Agritech Startups: A ray of hope in Indian Agriculture

The rapidly expanding agritech industry has a lot of potential to help Indian agriculture and eventually increase farmer incomes. India currently has 450 Agritech startups, and NASSCOM estimates that this number will increase by 25% annually. AgriTech startups have become a ray of hope in Indian agriculture, as well as...

[e27] Swiss impact investor leads US$7.5M Series B+ round of insurtech firm Qoala

Qoala will use the money for product and geographic expansion, primarily in emerging markets in Southeast Asia. View the full article on e27

[CXOtoday] 4 Agritech startups are innovating to help farmers increase productivity and yield

Agriculture is gradually evolving into the next high-tech industry. Blockchain, artificial intelligence, and computer vision technologies are being used to improve crop yields, supply chains, and sustainability. According to a 2019 NASSCOM report, India has over 450 agritech startups that are growing at a rate of 25% year on year....

[Tech in Asia] This Indonesian social commerce firm digitalized ‘arisan’ and grew revenue 3x

Nadya Pramitha, a homemaker residing in Jakarta, has been participating in her family’s arisan activities since 2016. Apart from being a family tradition, arisan is seen as a way to save money. Arisan, a traditional rotating savings and credit scheme in Indonesia, involves a group of people coming together to...

[Insurance Journal] Insurtech Kin Increases Series D Funding Round to $109 Million

Kin, the direct-to-consumer home insurance company, announced it conducted a third close, an incremental $15 million, to its Series D round in the fourth quarter of 2022. The investment came from Geodesic Capital, QED Investors, and additional investors, bringing the total Series D funds raised to $109 million. Since the...

[Forbes India] Why ApnaKlub Shruti doesn't mind being an angry young woman

The cofounder and CEO of of the B2B wholesale FMCG platform channelises her anger to defy norms, discard labels and fight gender bias By Rajiv Singh, Forbes India Staff People kept stoking her anger. And it started early in Shruti’s life. “Such a sad thing. The poor guy has three...