Tag: TechStars

Mobility startup Plentywaka picks up $1.2M seed, acquires Ghana’s Stabus

Lagos and Toronto-based mobility startup Plentywaka has raised a $1.2 million seed round to scale its operations on the back of leaving the Techstars Toronto accelerator program last month.  Canadian-based VC firm The Xchange led the round, SOSV and Shock Ventures participated, while Techstars Toronto made a follow-on investment. Nigerian…

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Sprout.ai raises $11m Series A led by Octopus Ventures to apply AI to insurance claims

It was way back in 2018 that Omni:us appeared to disrupt the insurance market by applying AI to this most legacy of all industries. It has now gone on to raise $44.1 million. In a similar vein, Shift Technology in France has raised $100 million. Now a UK startup aims…

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African talent recruitment company TalentQL joins Techstars to further global ambition

African-focused talent recruitment and outsourcing company TalentQL today announced that it has been accepted into Techstars Toronto. The company will join nine other startups in the accelerator’s class of 2021. This comes two weeks after Nigerian bus-booking platform Plentywaka announced its participation in the program as well. TalentQL was launched last November…

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Venture firm M13 names former Techstars LA managing director, Anna Barber, as its newest partner

The Los Angeles and New York-based venture firm M13 has managed to nab former Techstars LA managing director, Anna Barber, as its newest partner and the head of its internal venture studio, Launchpad. Designed to be a collaborative startup company incubator alongside corporate partners, Launchpad focuses on developing new consumer…

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Accelerators embrace change forced by pandemic

Accelerators have become a major force in the startup world, but these teeming masses of potential have been forced, like every other industry, to adopt major changes with the pandemic. Surprisingly, however, they have not just rolled with the punches but seem to be thriving in the new virtual environment.…

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Collab Capital launches with a $50 million target and a mission to help Black entrepreneurs

The three founders of Collab Capital, the newly launched Atlanta-based fund with a $50 million target and a mission to help Black entrepreneurs, are intimately aware of the struggles that Black founders face — because they are all Black founders themselves. Managing Partners Jewel Burks, Justin Dawkins, and Barry Givens have…

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