South African fintech start-up, Yellow, raises $20m debt financing. 2 other stories and a trivia

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

1. South African fintech start-up, Yellow, raises $20m debt financing

A South African fintech startup, Yellow, on Tuesday raised a $20 million debt financing to expand its geographical footprint across Africa.

The new debt facility was confirmed on Tuesday by Ross Thompson, Yellow’s CFO, in a media release seen by Ripples Nigeria.

According to Yellow, a $5 million equivalent senior debt facility has been secured from the Facility of Energy Inclusion’s Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (FEI-OGEF), managed by Lion’s Head Global Partners Asset Management.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Lion’s Head Global Partners Asset Management, Triple Jump, SunFunder, and Trine, participated in the debt funding round.

Yellow, which launched in 2018, claims to have served over 240,000 households with financed solar energy systems and smartphones.

“We are delighted to have closed the debt facilities from our new partners that provide us with the resources to serve at least one million more people,” said Thompson while commenting on the new financing.

Tech Trivia: Which of the following describes the arrangement of devices on a computer network?
A. Netmask
B. NetBIOS
C. Netiquette
D. Network topology
Answer: see end of post

2. US digital customer service provider, Glia, acquires Finn AI

A New York-based digital customer service provider, Glia, has announced acquiring an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, Finn Al, to expand presence in the Finn AI Canada office.

Read also:Microsoft expands footprint in Qatar with new office. 1 other story and a trivia

Jake Tyler, co-founder and CEO of Finn AI, confirmed the latest acquisition in a media release on Monday.

Glia, according to local media, is a digital customer service (DCS) solution provider that enables web and mobile experiences with digital communication choices, on-screen collaboration and AI-enabled assistance.

Finn Al, on the other hand, is an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot platform for banks and credit unions.

Glia was launched in 2012 by Founders Carlos Paniagua, Daniel Michaeli, and Justin DiPietro headquartered in the Greater New York Area.

Tyler said that Finn’s business approach will help Glia’ financial institutions reduce costs.

“Now as part of Glia, we will have the scale to deliver automation solutions to the market as part of a seamless DCS platform that delivers the best of both self-service and human assistance when and where it is most convenient for customers,” he said.

Finn AI was launched in 2014 and has its office in Canada.

3. US-based advanced business analytics provider, SAS, acquires Kamakura Corporation

A US-based artificial intelligence and analytics provider, SAS, has completed the acquisition of Kamakura Corporation.

SAS co-founder and CEO, Jim Goodnight, confirmed the deal in a media release on Tuesday.

Kamakura, which is a Honolulu-based service provider, offers software, data and consulting solutions to help financial institutions looking to manage financial risk.

Goodnight, while commenting on the acquisition, said:

“This acquisition is an extension of tremendous investments already made in SAS’ cloud-ready risk management platform and integrated solutions.

“It signals our intent to advance market-changing risk solutions to solve the most pressing challenges our financial services customers face.”

The latest acquisition is expected to help SAS expand its risk solutions portfolio and technical expatriates.

Trivia Answer: Network Topology

A network topology describes the arrangement of systems on a computer network. It defines how the computers, or nodes, within the network are arranged and connected to each other.

Some common network topologies include star, ring, line, bus, and tree configurations.

By Kayode Hamsat

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