Khazenly, an Egyptian on-demand warehousing and fulfiLlment platform, raises $2.5M seed funding
The e-commerce market in Egypt is expected to grow 30% to $7.5 billion this year, spurred by a growing number of younger shoppers and rising incomes. Local merchants are essential in driving this growth, and solving their logistical and operational needs end-to-end is where new upstarts in Egypt no…
Fighting the ‘copycat’ stigma in SaaS: 3 tricks that work
It always stings to hear a prospect say, "Oh you’re like a cheaper/newer version of [your biggest competitor]." It stings even more when you know you have a superior product.
Sylndr, a used-car retailer, raises $12.6M pre-seed to disrupt Egypt’s automotive market
Egypt is home to one of Africa’s largest vehicle fleets, with over 6 million cars (80% are passenger cars) on its roads. According to this finding, most are used cars; their ratio to new vehicles is 3:1. But the used cars market isn’t only enormous in Egypt; it is in almost every country with a [&h…
Gopuff, the instant delivery upstart, taps ex-Disney head Bob Iger as its newest investor and advisor
Gopuff, the instant delivery giant valued at $15 billion (and filing for financing in December 2021 at a valuation of up to $40 billion), made a name for itself courting consumers wanting groceries and other essentials with an app that lets them order and get those goods delivered in around 30 minu…
Faye hopes to do for travel insurance what Lemonade did for general insurance
While (former) startups like Lemonade came along to attack the tired world of insurance, the travel insurance market is now coming in for the same treatment from the likes of Safetywing (covered by TC here) and Battleface. In an ideal world, travel insurance would be easier to understand, would pay…
Identitypass, an identity verification API for Africa, raises $2.8M seed funding
Identitypass plans to expand its existing infrastructure, roll out new verticals around compliance, security and data collection, and push into new African countries.
Skich’s new app brings social discovery to mobile game recommendations
A new startup called Skich wants to help mobile users find games to play that better match their interests. To do so, it’s created a game recommendation app that carefully toes the line in order to not bump up against Apple’s App Store rule that prohibits other apps from acting as App S…
Snapchat officially introduces its paid subscription at $3.99 per month
Snapchat officially launched its paid subscription plan called Snapchat+ today that will offer exclusive features like the ability to change the app icon and being able to see which people have rewatched your Stories. Earlier this month, the firm confirmed that it’s testing this feature witho…
Hyundai reveals the IONIQ 6 EV sedan, the eagerly-anticipated follow-up to its IONIQ 5
Hyundai previewed the IONIQ 6 sedan Wednesday, the heavily-anticipated followup to the brand’s popular first battery-electric model, the IONIQ 5 SUV. The automaker won’t announce details such as the IONIQ 6’s price range, and production run size until the vehicle’s world pre…