Naspers
Africa Roundup: Goldman leads $30M Twiga raise, China grows tech influence, Jumia weathers lockup-expiry
Kenya’s Twiga Foods raised a total of $30 million in October from lenders and investors led by Goldman Sachs. This adds to the list of African startups the U.S. financial…
Latin America Roundup: Uber acquires Cornershop, SoftBank invests in Buser and Olist
Brazil continued to churn out unicorns this month, with Curitiba-based Ebanx becoming the first startup from the southern part of the country to top a $1 billion valuation. U.S.-based FTV…
Naspers Foundry is open for South African startup pitches, CEO says
Naspers’ 1.4 billion rand (≈$100 million) VC fund to support South African startups — Naspers Foundry — is accepting pitches, after making its first investment in online cleaning services company…
Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk on SoftBank comparisons: ‘They’re broad, we’re focused; we invest in what we know’
Naspers, a South African internet company that has become a major investor in a wide range of digital commerce companies, has in recent years drawn comparisons to the Japanese conglomerate…
The CEO of Naspers — one of the world’s most powerful and lowest-flying investment firms — is coming to Disrupt
In 2001, Naspers, a media company that launched in 1915 and later evolved into a media holding company with pay TV interests, agreed to invest $32 million for a 46.5%…
Milkbasket, a Gurugram-based micro-delivery startup, is in talks to close a new financing round as it looks to expand its footprint in the milk, grocery, fruit and vegetable delivery market…
India’s Meesho raises $125M to expand its social commerce business
Meesho, a Bangalore-based social commerce startup, has raised $125 million in a new financing round to expand its business in the country and change the way millions shop online. The…
Brainly, a crowdsourced homework helper for students, raises $30M to expand in the US
When it comes to turning the wheels of the internet, crowdsourcing is a key component of the engine: the power of people can fund big ideas and good causes; it…
Fintech in Latin America continues to draw big dollars as SoftBank invests $231 million in Creditas
As investors continue to move more aggressively into Latin America’s startup scene, there’s one industry that seems to be drawing more attention than any others — financial services. As wealth…
Remitly raises $220M to expand from money transfers to financial services, now at ~$1B valuation
When it comes to financial services in emerging markets, remittances — people sending money to each other across international borders, often not to established bank accounts — continues to be…
PayU, Naspers’ global fintech firm, enters Southeast Asia with acquisition of Red Dot Payment
PayU, the Naspers-owned fintech firm that specializes in emerging markets, is broadening its global reach into Southeast Asia after it announced a deal to buy a majority stake in Singapore-based…
European micromobility startup Dott is about to raise a $34 million Series A round (€30 million). Compared to many scooter companies out there, the startup is taking a careful approach…
It’s not easy to raise growth-stage capital in Latin America, but it’s getting easier. As startups begin to flourish in the region’s largest markets, available funding is evolving to suit…
Africa Roundup: Yamaha backs MAX, Founders Factory and Norrsken support startups, inside Ethiopia’s tech scene
Competition in Africa’s two-wheel ride-hail market is accelerating. Nigerian motorcycle transit startup MAX.ng was the latest startup to add funding, raising a $7 million funding round in June with participation…
India’s Ola switches gears on its food delivery business, Foodpanda
India’s Ola, which has expanded to select international markets and set ambitious goals for its electric vehicles business, is struggling with selling food. So it is making major changes to…
India’s edtech startup CollegeDekho raises $8 million to connect students with colleges
Indian edtech startup CollegeDekho, which helps students connect with prospective colleges and keep track of exams, has raised $8 million in a Series B round. The new financing round for…
China’s Ctrip now owns half of India’s MakeMyTrip following share swap with Naspers
China’s Ctrip, the world’s second largest online travel company, is doubling down on India after it announced a deal to increase its ownership of travel company MakeMyTrip to nearly half. Ctrip…
India’s ZestMoney raises $20M to grow its digital lending service
Fintech is very much still hot in Asia. ZestMoney, a startup that helps consumers with no credit history get loans to buy online, announced today it has raised a $20…
Naspers-owned PayU doubles down on India with $70M deal to buy Wibmo
PayU, the Naspers-owned payments company that competes with the likes of PayPal but focuses mainly on emerging markets, has made an acquisition to expand its business in India. It has…
The SoftBank Vision Fund has been screaming from the venture headlines the last few months, driven by eye-popping rounds (and valuations!) into some of the most notable startups around the…
“It is our contention that the investment industry may be experiencing a peak of its own, in this case the point of the maximum rate at which it extracts value…
It’s taken some time to come around, but Naspers — the early Tencent investor that’s also behind the world’s top listings service — finally has a piece of Southeast Asia’s…
Featured Article
Pi Day wasn’t pleasant for a lot of tech execs
Pi Day is apparently New Job day for tech execs and VCs these days. Leaving: Lee Fixel It’s not every day that one of the top VC investors heads out from their shop. TechCrunch’s @cookie aka Connie Loizos has the story: Lee Fixel, the low-flying head of Tiger Global’s private equity business, is leaving at…
Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange today, per SEC documents and confirmation from CEO Sacha Poignonnec to TechCrunch. The valuation, share price…
Nigeria’s Gloo.ng drops consumer e-commerce, pivots to e-procurement
Nigerian startup Gloo.ng is dropping consumer online retail and pivoting to B2B e-procurement with Gloopro as its new name. The Lagos-based venture has called it quits on e-commerce grocery services,…
Venture investors are pouring billions of dollars into feeding their hunger for food and agriculture startups. Whether that trend line is due to enthusiasm for the sector or just broader…
Startups Weekly: Flexport, Clutter and SoftBank’s blood money
Plus, Pinterest is going public too, Lyft’s IPO is imminent and London is home to the largest pre-seed fund ever.
Uber is reportedly close to making a tactical exit from India’s food delivery industry
Uber has said adamantly that it won’t exit India (or any more markets) following a hat-trick of retreats from China, Russia and Southeast Asia, but does that include its food…
BeliMobilGue raises $10M for its used-car sales platform in Indonesia
BeliMobilGue, a used car sales platform in Indonesia, has fueled up with a $10 million Series round for the race to dominate the automotive market in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.…
India’s Swiggy goes beyond food to offer product delivery from local stores
Swiggy, the Indian food delivery service, has made its much anticipated moved into general deliveries today after it announced its new ‘stores’ product. The move has been speculated since as…
