Facebook announced on Tuesday that its 2Africa cable would now extend to over 45,000 kilometers with the addition of nine landings collectively dubbed the 2Africa Pearls. The subsea cable will directly connect three continents — Africa, Europe and Asia. The extension will see 2Africa become the longest subsea cable system in the world upon completion, […]
Indian online learning platform Vedantu becomes unicorn with $100 million funding
Online learning platform Vedantu has raised $100 million in a new financing round and has become the latest Indian startup to become a unicorn following a year of strong growth. Vedantu, which last month refuted rumors of it considering a sale to Byju’s, said on Wednesday it has raised $100 million in its Series E […]
Amazon launches computer science education program Future Engineer in India
Amazon said on Tuesday it is extending its computer science program Future Engineer to India. Through the program, for which Amazon partners with players such as Code.org, Amazon aims to bring CS education to underserved and underrepresented children and young adults. The company said it will offer several educational resources, scholarships, internships, and mentors to […]
Weatherwatch: sea rises threaten low-lying land in Vietnam
South-east Asian country has a monsoon climate, and 15% of land is less than five metres above sea levelLong and narrow, stretching from 9 to 23 degrees north of the equator, Vietnam is situated totally within the tropics. Like many countries in south-…
Amazon-backed buy now, pay later platform Capital Float raises $50 million
Capital Float, an Amazon-backed startup that offers its buy now, pay later service on many popular online platforms in India including that of the e-commerce firm, said on Tuesday it has raised $50 million in a new financing round following a strong growth in recent quarters. Lightrock India led the Bangalore-based startup’s Series D financing […]
Indonesian ID and data verification startup Verihubs gets $2.8M led by Insignia Venture Partners
For many financial institutions in Southeast Asia, verifying new customers takes a week or two, said the founders of Verihubs. The startup cuts that time down to as little as five seconds, using AI-based identity authentication technology and APIs that let companies continue verifying returning customers through SMS, WhatsApp or flash calls. Verihubs announced it […]
Indian food delivery giant Swiggy in talks to raise funds at over $10 billion valuation
Indian food delivery startup Swiggy is in talks to raise over $500 million in a new financing round that could value it at over $10 billion, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Atlanta-headquartered Invesco is in talks to lead — or co-lead — the new financing round in the Bangalore-based startup, which counts […]
India’s Bijnis lands $30 million to help manufacturers build digital identity and sell to retailers
The proliferation of affordable and fast mobile data allowed hundreds of millions of Indians to come online for the first time in the past decade. But there are scores of areas in the South Asian nation’s economy that remain largely offline. One of those is factories. There are about 150,000 factories in India, but the […]
LinkedIn is testing a new, paid ticketed events service
LinkedIn earlier this month unveiled a new push around creators to bring more original content (and engagement) to its platform, but that’s not the only effort they are making to bring more activity to its networking site. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that LinkedIn is also running a test around events — specifically, paid events. […]
Thailand’s fintech startup Ascend Money lands $150M at a $1.5B valuation
Ascend Money, the Thailand-based fintech startup behind TrueMoney, an e-wallet service, announced today it has raised a $150 million Series C round at a valuation of $1.5 billion. The Series C round was led by Charoen Pokphand Group, which is a major shareholder of Ascend Money, with participation from Bow Wave Capital Management and returning […]