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Kenya’s Cartnshop raises $400k to boost sales. 2 other things and a trivia

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

1. Kenya’s Cartnshop secures $400k to boost sales

Cartnshop, one of Kenya’s ecommerce startups, has announced securing a US$400,000 in funding.

The development comes as the startup looks to improve sales and enter into full commerce next month.

The startup was founded in 2018 as an end-to-end e-store enabler engine that allows any retail or enterprise business to attract new customers.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the startup has B2B and B2C channels, the helps the startup incorporate payment gateways.

In addition, the startup has delivery and fulfillment centres that makes provision for marketing and marketplace cross-listings and business management capabilities.

Speaking on the development, founder and CEO Joe Wambugu, noted that the goal of the startup was to enable the B2B2C model.

“The Cartnshop ecosystem brings stakeholders including manufacturers, suppliers and distributors, service providers and e-commerce enablers into the channels, enabling a complete model of B2B2C,” he said.

Tech Trivia: What of the following best describes the purpose of a “captcha?”

A It captures keystrokes as a user types.
B It captures personal information through spyware.
C It records web browsing history.
D It prevents bots from submitting online forms.
Answer: See end of post

2. SA’s Hatchery signs $330k partnership deal with Valinor

Leading clean-tech startup incubator, The Hatchery, has entered into a US$330,000 partnership deal with Valinor, a Norwegian clean-tech investment company.

READ ALSO: Nigerian founded startup, Casava, closes $4m pre-seed funding. 2 other things and a trivia

The partnership will see the organisation focus its programme on sustainable solutions that promote economic growth.

The Hatchery launched as a venture in November when it shared it mission with the public as an international clean-tech incubator that is invested in technologies that increase productivity or profitability.

The incubator seeks to reduce resource consumption or pollution, in Cape Town, aiming to discover and support cutting-edge entrepreneurs in areas such as smart utility metering, solar energy, and mobile financial platforms.

According to local media, the partnership with Valinor will enable The Hatchery to advance its clean-tech infrastructure and support startups as they transform their ideas into fledgling businesses.

3. M-KOPA closes $75M with 2 million customers across 4 markets

Fintech player, M-KOPA, has closed a $75 million funding round after attaining a milestone of 2 million customers across four African markets.

Launched in 2011, the startup enables underbanked customers in select African markets to access a broad range of products and services without collateral or a guarantor.

The new raiser brings the startup’s total equity raise to $190 million.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that previous backers such as the CDC Group and LGT Lightrock took part in the new round alongside LocalGlobe’s Latitude Fund and HEPCO Capital Management.

According to the fintech startup, Generation Investment Management and Broadscale Group led the growth equity round.

Led by co-founder and CEO Jesse Moore, M-KOPA is popular for its pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financing model that allows customers to build ownership of appliances over time by paying an initial deposit followed by flexible micro-payments.

Trivia Answer: Captcha

A captcha is program used to verify that a human, rather than a computer, is entering data. Captchas are commonly seen at the end of online forms and ask the user to enter text from a distorted image.

The text in the image may be wavy, have lines through it, or may be highly irregular, making it nearly impossible for an automated program to recognize it. (Of course, some captchas are so distorted that they can be difficult for humans to recognize as well.)

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