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SumUp raises $624M at $8.5B valuation, with its payments and business tech now used by 4M SMBs
A decade ago, SumUp was one of the army of fintechs that made names for themselves with dongles that turned basic smartphones into card payment terminals. Today, the London-based company has expanded
Alibaba extends logistics arm to Pakistan for e-commerce unit Daraz
Cainiao, the logistics service operated by Alibaba, is launching two automated distribution centers in Karachi and Lahore as its first entry into Pakistan, it announced on Friday. Alibaba’s over
Project A Ventures closes its fourth fund, hitting $375M, the largest to date
Project A Ventures launched 10 years ago in Berlin when a handful of a ex-Rocket Internet players decided they’d try their own hand at this startup stuff. Since then they’ve done pretty well, inve
The e-commerce boom is still afoot in Africa, Jumia’s earnings indicate
Jumia, the pan-African e-commerce company (and sole tech company based on the continent listed on the NYSE), released its first-quarter financial performance today. The company’s results include
Selina raises $150M to dish out flexible loans that leverage home equity
For many of us, our home is by far our biggest asset, and in the world of fintech, that’s led to a logical extension: when you need money, borrow against that biggest asset. Today, a London fint
Sunday competitor Qlub emerges with $17M seed round from Cherry and Point Nine
Our behavior at restaurants and venues has changed massively in the last two years because of the pandemic, but many of us have realized the huge advantages of being able to order via phones from the
Morocco’s Chari valued at $100M in bridge round as it looks to pilot BNPL services
Moroccan B2B e-commerce and retail startup Chari confirmed to TechCrunch that it has secured a bridge round at a $100 million valuation. The bridge round welcomed new investors Khwarizmi Ventures, Air
Arive raises $20M for an instant delivery service beyond groceries and essentials
Instant purchase and delivery of food and other essentials was one of the big bubbles of opportunity in the world of e-commerce in the last year, with dozens of startups big and small emerging and sco
African tech took center stage in 2021
Two years ago, the African tech ecosystem saw newfound attention from global players that translated to the continent’s best year of receiving venture capital. From varying sources, it is estimated
Alibaba’s Southeast Asia arm Lazada hits 130M annual consumers
Alibaba has always aspired to bring its e-commerce service to customers outside China. Its strategy is multi-thronged. The giant’s house-developed AliExpress has found success in Russia in recen
Flink, the Berlin-based instant grocery startup, is now valued at $2.85B after raising $750M in a round led by DoorDash
Instant grocery delivery continues to be a very frothy market, but today comes news of a major funding round for one player in it that investors believe will still be standing after the hype has died
Jumia posts revenue and order gains, but compounding losses drag its stock lower
Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia released its third-quarter financial performance today, detailing a mix of expected and surprising results. When TechCrunch discussed the company’s Q2 2020 finan
Berlin’s Razor Group raises $125M at a $1B+ valuation for a platform to buy and scale third-party Amazon merchants
Companies snapping up merchants selling on Amazon to build in more e-commerce economies of scale into the model are on a rapid pace of growth at the moment, fueled in no small part by giant infusions
Meal planner startup Kitchenful raises $1.9M from VentureFriends, Goodwater Capital and Jabbar
With the pandemic turning us into delivery experts, consumers have also switched on to meal kits in droves, given that it combines both delivery and home cooking. But many meal kits can be inflexible.
European point of sale provider SumUp acquires customer loyalty startup Fivestars for $317M
SumUp, a European-based competitor to Square, PayPal/iZettle and others that provide mobile-powered card readers and other sales technology to merchants and small businesses, has made an acquisition i
Chari, a Moroccan startup digitizing mom and pop stores, raises $5M at $70M valuation
If there’s a sector that has seen the biggest uptick in the number of startups and venture capital in emerging markets since the start of last year, it has to be the digitization of mom and pop
Jumia’s Q2 results show moderate growth, rising spend and continued losses
African e-commerce giant Jumia today reported its second-quarter financial performance. In the wake of its earnings reports, Jumia’s shares climbed 3.38% to $21.99 per share with a market cap of
Brazilian digital auto marketplace InstaCarro revs up with $23M in funding
InstaCarro, a digital marketplace that connects used car sellers to dealers in Brazil, has raised $23 million in a Series B round of funding. Notably, U.S.-based firms co-led the investment, including
Lollipop AI launches online grocery marketplace where you can build your own recipes
As I’ve taken to online grocery shopping over the pandemic, I’ve always wondered why supermarkets didn’t offer simple ‘recipe’ features that would have automatically collected items for
Could Claap, an asynchronous video meetings platform, end the tyranny of Zoom calls?
Because of the pandemic, we’re all a lot more familiar with remote working than we used to be, whether we like it or not. But the remote tools of the pre-pandemic era — Slack, Trello, Zoom, As