Kenya’s Shamba Pride secures $3.7m for expansion. 2 other stories and a trivia

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

1. Kenya’s Shamba Pride secures $3.7M for expansion

Shamba Pride, a Kenyan agricultural technology startup, has announced raising $3.7 million in debt-equity pre-Series A funding from the EU agriculture financing initiative EDFI AgriFI and Seedstars Africa Ventures (SAV), with $1.7 million designated as equity.

This latest funding round follows a capital infusion of $1.1 million in 2021 from SAV and Gray Matters Capital.

Founded in 2016 by Samuel Munguti, Shamba Pride specializes in digitizing agro-dealers to streamline business management and inventory ordering, ensuring the efficient distribution of essential supplies.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Shamba Pride offers farmers market linkages, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) financial services, and training information through its USSD platform.

Samuel Munguti, the founder and CEO, noted that the significance of empowering agro-dealers to enhance their visibility, professional development, and commercial success, ultimately providing optimal support to farmers.

With a current network of 2,700 merchants (agro-dealers) spanning 24 counties in Kenya, Shamba Pride plans to utilize the newly acquired funds to expand its coverage to more retailers and agricultural regions within Kenya and later on explore neighboring markets such as Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Trivia: Which term describes installing software across several devices?

A. Assignment
B. Arrangement
C. Refinement
D. Deployment

See Answer below

2. Egypt’s Mira closes $200,000 in funding

A Cairo-based direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty and wellness startup, Mira, has closed a $200,000 in funding from Wingoo Investment and Technology.

Founded by Amira Dawood, Mira claims to specialize in a diverse range of cosmetic and skincare products.

The announcement of the funding coincides with the imminent launch of Mira’s inaugural local brand later this year.

With the newly acquired funds, Mira aims to expand its customer base to 100,000 clients by the close of 2024 and also include venturing into the UAE and Saudi markets.

According to Amira Dawood, the Mira idea was inspired by the growing demand among young women for imported cosmetics and skincare items, often priced in foreign currencies.

Dawood added that he envisions providing high-quality Egyptian products at accessible prices, championing the promotion of local goods.

3. Google reach settlement over alleged data collection in Chrome’s ‘Incognito’ Mode”

Google, facing a $5 billion lawsuit accusing it of tracking user activity in Incognito mode, has reached a settlement over the 2020 allegations of using tools like Analytics, apps, and browser plugins to obtain users’ data.

The lawsuit contended that Google misled users about their control over information shared in “Incognito” mode.

In response, Google is updating the warning displayed during Incognito mode use in Chrome.

Upon initiating Incognito mode, a notice now informs users that browsing is private from others on the same device, however that data from downloads, bookmarks, and reading lists will still be saved.

Google emphasizes that Incognito mode conceals activity only on the user’s current device and does not prevent data collection. While this clarification is not yet explicitly highlighted in the public version’s disclaimer, improvements are expected in the near future.

Trivia Answer: Deployment

Software deployment is the process of making software usable on one or more systems. Both single and multi-system deployment involve four primary steps: Download > Install > Activate > Update.

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