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How to better support girls globally?

Fast Company Tech

Recently, on March 8th, International Womens Day was recognizeda moment that originally sprung from a movement to fight against child labor and sweatshop working conditions. Female genital mutilation still occurs Last month, I traveled to Senegal to see UNICEFs work firsthand. Further, FGM in Senegal hit its lowest point in 2023.

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Wave, a Stripe-backed African fintech valued at $1.7 billion, cut 15% of its staff in June

TechCrunch

Wave, an African fintech that offers mobile money services in Senegal and Ivory Coast, laid off about 15% of its workforce last month. The company, which operated a stealth launch two years prior in Senegal, has since raised over $290 million in equity and debt capital funding to date. Germany, Nigeria and the U.K.

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Senegalese logistics and delivery company PAPS raises $4.5M led by 4DX Ventures and Orange

TechCrunch

PAPS , a Senegal-based logistics and delivery company, is filling this gap in its region by offering customers various logistics services. The platform caters to small to large businesses, assisting them with their logistics needs, from storage and international transport to last-mile delivery.

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Sequoia Heritage, Stripe and others invest $200M in African fintech Wave at $1.7B valuation

TechCrunch

and Senegal-based mobile money provider, has raised $200 million in Series A round of funding. The International Monetary Fund says that as of 2017, only 43% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa were “banked” by way of a traditional bank or mobile money account. Wave , a U.S. ” Going up against incumbents.

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Smile Identity expands African footprint with acquisition of Appruve to strengthen ID verification services

TechCrunch

On the other hand, Appruve, which provides an API that verifies user identity, fraud detection and digital documentation, primarily focuses on new datasets that enable or complement traditional government data such as international passports and national IDs. We have product depth in Nigeria already.

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Reports say African startups raised record-smashing $4.3B to $5B in 2021

TechCrunch

Senegal took the fifth spot with $353 million, while Ghana was sixth ($167 million). Startups in Senegal received more than $222 million, placing the country in fifth. Some tech insiders don’t view companies such as Zepz, Zipline or Tala as African companies — some see them as international companies headquartered in the U.S.

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Pangea to unlock diaspora remittances as funding source for African startups

TechCrunch

Remittances from abroad reached $45 billion in 2021, with Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Zimbabwe leading the list of recipient countries. Norway’s Pangea Trust, through its equity crowdfunding platform Connect , is unlocking diaspora remittance inflows as funding source for early and growth-stage startups in Africa.

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