Weekly startup news roundup and ideas

Ideas:

• Startup opportunity: Apply now for Mastercard Start Path–  Applications are open to the next cohort of the Mastercard Start Path programme, supporting later-stage startups innovating in the banking and payments space.The six-month digital Start Path programme aims to support innovative startups developing the next generation of commerce solutions, and to help these businesses grow faster than they could alone.
• Startup opportunity: How to Build Your Own Smartphone – for $70 – In recent times, we have highlighted opportunities in design and development of light-apps, mobile Apps and voice based technologies in the Smartphone industry. Here is another interesting idea for entrepreneurs: why not develop your own branded smartphone? It apparently costs only $70 to design and make small batches of smartphones!
•  Question on Ethics of automation and AI – Automation and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve repetitive, mundane tasks is the holy grail of computing. This is a trend that software companies, startups and entrepreneurs continue to pay close attention to.In its recently held 36th annual general meeting in Bangalore, Infosys announced (link) that more than 11,000 jobs had been released due to automation. Revenue per full-time employee (FTE) increased by 1.2 % as a result of automation, utilization and productivity improvements, the company said.
• How a Startup Can Thrive in the Digital Age – Technology is reshaping the digital economy, and MIT’s Andrew McAfee tells Bloomberg that if today’s entrepreneurs don’t embrace machines, platforms, and crowds, they will be left behind by the ones who do. (Video by Michael Byhoff & Sylvia Yang) (Source: Bloomberg)
• The digital sector is flying – but how do you get your own startup off the ground? Brabners’ Nik White explains – The UK’s digital economy is booming. The sector has an estimated turnover of £170bn, is growing twice as fast as the wider economy and employs more than 1.6m people. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just London getting all the action. As revealed in the Tech Nation 2017 report, the north is a hub of activity and well on its way to rivalling the capital. From Liverpool to Hull, and Leeds to Newcastle, the north of England’s tech sector has a combined GVA of £5.8bn, up from £4bn last year.
• Snapchat bought the AR location intellectual property of startup Drop – Snap Map is Snapchat’s plan to tie together its online content with ways to augment your offline reality, and it’s got the patent to back it up. Augmented reality location startup Drop tells TechCrunch that Snap Inc. acquired its intellectual property in 2015, including its “Location-based messaging” patent.

Funding:

• Fintech Startup Stashfin Raises $5 Mn Funding From Snow Leopard Ventures, Others – Delhi-based fintech startup Stashfin has raised $5 Mn Pre-Series A funding from Snow Leopard Ventures and Singapore-based Alto Partners. Snow Leopard Ventures is the VC arm of the Kirloskar Group.
• Ghana-based tech startup OMG Digital has secured $1.1 million in seed funding. The investors included Kima Ventures, Soma Capital, Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund, Social Capital, M&Y Growth Partners and Macro Ventures. – Ghanaian tech startup, OMG Digital, has announced it has closed on Seed Funding of $1.1M from international investors Kima Ventures, Soma Capital, Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund, Social Capital, M&Y Growth Partners, and Macro Ventures, with participation from a number of Angel Investors including Josh Buckley of Mino Games, and Founder of Off-Grid Electric, Francis Xavier Helgesen. The Y-Combinator – backed new media company targeting Africa’s millennial population through shareable and hyper-local pop-culture content, has been dubbed the ‘Buzzfeed of Africa’ with its OMGVoice brand and has monthly aggregated content views of over 90 million, a monthly social reach of 80 million, with 4.5 million readers to the website each month since its launch in February 2016.
• UK fintech startup Yoyo raises £12m Series B – Yoyo Wallet, the fastest growing mobile payments app in the UK, has raised £12m in a Series B investment round. Investors include German retailer Metro Group, and fund manager Neil Woodford. The company’s latest funding also received backing from Touchstone Innovations, the AIM-listed venture capital arm of Imperial College London.

Corporate Deals:

• Boeing and Verizon invest in artificial intelligence startup – Boeing, which has plans to launch tests of self-flying passenger planes, said the startup investment could lead to applications that include “AI-driven security for aerospace innovation.”
• Microsoft, Cariplo launch EUR 100 mln Italian startup fund – Microsoft has teamed up with Cariplo Factory to announce a venture capital fund of EUR 100 million to support the “growITup” open innovation platform launched a year ago. The startup initiative has already seen the participation of Intesa Sanpaolo bank, the Fondazione Cariplo charitable foundation and the Italian Investment Fund, with Banca Imi and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) contributing the initial EUR 30 million. The fund will be used on incubators, business accelerators, business schools, technology services and above all companies in seven ‘Made in Italy’ areas, namely, fintech & insurtech, agro-food, energy & environment, manufacturing, tourism, culture & entertainment, fashion & design plus health & wellbeing. “GrowITup is the response of Microsoft and the Cariplo Foundation to the need for growth we all feel in Italy because it places big companies, the expression of ‘made in Italy’, into contact with promising native digital startups,” Microsoft Italia managing director Carlo Purassanta told tech website Wired.