Indian wealth management startup, Smallcase, closes $40M Series C round. 1 other thing and a trivia

This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today.

1. Indian wealth management startup, Smallcase, closes $40M Series C round

Bangalore-based startup, Smallcase, has announced closing a $40 million Series C financing round led by Faering Capital and Premji Invest.

The round saw the participation of existing investors Sequoia Capital, Blume Ventures, Beenext, DSP Group, Arkam Ventures, WEH Ventures and HDFC Bank.

The new round brings its total to-date raise to over $65 million.

According to local sources, the startup was founded by three IIT Kharagpur graduates in July 2015.

The startup offers a platform to help introduce a new generation of investors to the Indian equity markets.

Today, the startup offers an in-house team of licensed professionals who offer over 100 portfolios of stocks and exchange traded funds as well as provides its users access to independent investment managers, brokerages and wealth platforms.

Tech Trivia: What type of applications are available to users on a trial basis only for a limited period of time?
A. Shareware
B. Buyware
C. Crackware
D. Software
Answer: See end of post

2. Ghanaian fintech Waya seeks to expand venture

Waya, a Ghanaian fintech startup, has continued to record a level of stable progress and now seeks to enter into other African markets.

The development comes as the Ghana-based payments startup Waya is records month-on-month growth of between 20 per cent in its three existing markets.

The startup was founded in 2018 after co-founder Delali Anku-Adiamah faced a challenge sending money back to Ghana while travelling around Africa.

Waya provides local and international payments and transfers through an interoperability platform that connects with banks, mobile money operators and other digital payments providers from all over the world, to serve Africa.

According to local sources, the startup achieves this by providing its users, both individuals and merchants, with access to a multi-currency, multi-channel application.

The application comes with intelligent routing capabilities that ensures funds are processed in the most cost-effective, secure and reliable way possible. Only the sender needs to have the app.

3. Egyptian platform Schoolz secures 6-figure pre-seed round

Egyptian student transportation platform Schoolz has secured a six-figure US dollar pre-seed funding round to expand into the business sphere.

The fund will help the startup provide SaaS solutions to companies in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Founded in 2020 by Hosni Ahmed, Abdel Monsef Ismail and Ayman Hamza, Schoolz launched as a mobile application that helps provide a safe and comfortable transportation service for children.

According to sources familiar with its operations, the startup utilises modern technologies, drivers, supervisors in every vehicle, live cameras and notifications to streamline the student transportation process.

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The investment will fund the launch of “Schoolz for Business” after a previous trial period, as well as the launch of “Schoolz Cloud Services” in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Speaking on the development, Ahmed stated that the startup is leveraging technology to tap into the opportunities presented from transporting school children to school.

He said: “We know that there is a great opportunity for the students and children transportation services market, inside and outside Egypt. We started it experimentally at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic to test the minimum market acceptance of our services, and the results were impressive.”

Tech Trivia Answer: Shareware

Shareware is software that is distributed free on a trial basis with the understanding that the user may need or want to pay for it later.

Other shareware (sometimes called liteware) is offered with certain capabilities disabled as an enticement to buy the complete version of the program.

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