Kenya’s Pariti raises $2.85M led by Harlem Capital to develop startup ecosystems in emerging markets

Pariti, the Kenya-based community-led marketplace building the digital infrastructure for startup ecosystems in emerging markets, has raised $2.85 million seed, the company confirmed to TechCrunch today. The round was led by U.S.-based Harlem Capital. In Africa, it’s the first deal of the diversity-focused fund that secured $134 million for its second fund earlier this year. […]

Jack Dorsey dials in on his dream job — bitcoin missionary

Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review! Last week, we took a break from contextualization for some guides to consumption. This week, we’re looking at what’s happening in the mind of one Jack Dorsey. You can get this in your inbox from the newsletter page, and follow my tweets @lucasmtny. the big thing While […]

Is the UK government’s new IoT cybersecurity bill fit for purpose?

Internet of Things (IoT) devices — essentially, electronics like fitness trackers and smart lightbulbs that connect to the internet — are now part of everyday life for most. However, cybersecurity remains a problem, and according to Kaspersky, it’s only getting worse: there were 1.5 billion breaches of IoT devices during the first six months of […]

Picsart acquires R&D company DeepCraft in seven-figure deal to aid video push

SoftBank-based digital creation platform Picsart, which recently hit uniciorn status, announced today it’s acquiring the research and development company DeepCraft. The deal is a combination of both cash and stock and is in the seven-figure range, but the exact terms aren’t being disclosed. Picsart today offers a range of digital creation and editing tools aimed […]

Social app IRL makes its first acquisition with deal for digital nutrition company AaBeZe Labs

IRL, the SoftBank-backed social app and recent unicorn, is today announcing its first acquisition. The company is purchasing, for an undisclosed sum, the “digital nutrition” company AaBeZe Labs and its portfolio of IP with the goal of making IRL a healthier and more ethically designed social networking app. AaBeZe’s founders Michael Phillips Moskowitz, the former […]

Here’s what’s happening today at the iMerit ML DataOps Summit 2021

And we’re off to the data races! Yes, today iMerit ML DataOps Summit 2021 dives deep into the data science solutions that power artificial intelligence and machine learning. It’s shaping up to be a productive and opportunity-filled day. Don’t have a pass yet? No problem — they’re free. Simply register here and then get ready […]

Square is changing its name to Block

The fintech giant Square is changing its name to Block, effective December 10. The name change, which has been in the works for over a year, is intended to house the company’s various products — including music streaming service Tidal, Cash App, TBD, and of course, Square — under one brand. This announcement comes just […]

AWS introduces a solution to get customers off their mainframes more quickly

At Amazon’s AWS re:Invent conference this morning, the company announced a new platform for mainframe migration and modernization called simply “AWS Mainframe Modernization,” which aims to help AWS customers get off their mainframes “as fast as they possibly can” in order to take better advantage of the cloud. Today, customers may take a couple of […]

Portugal’s ‘Predictive maintenance’ startup Stratio pulls in a $12M Series A round led by Forestay

The fleet management industry needs to be able to predict when a truck or a van is about to break down. Not only does this prevent millions in lost revenues, it also has huge implications for supply chains. ‘Predictive maintenance’ is one of those spaces in which you will find several incumbent companies, such as […]