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Jia, a blockchain-based lender of small businesses in emerging markets, raises $4.3 million seed

TechCrunch

Jia, a blockchain-based fintech providing loans to micro and small businesses in emerging markets, has raised $4.3 The fintech plans to use the funding to double down on its operations in Kenya, and the Philippines, before exploring new markets in West Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

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Small business payments and marketing startup Fivestars raises $52.5M

TechCrunch

It’s a difficult time for small businesses — to put it mildly. Ho argued that those platforms (whether they offer delivery services, user reviews or marketing tools) all have the same underlying model: “They seek to take over a small business’ customer base and then charge them a tax to start reaching those customers.”

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Nigeria’s Kippa gets $3.2M pre-seed for its small business finance management app

TechCrunch

Millions of small businesses globally, especially in emerging markets, have stayed offline for the better part of the past decade. Nigerian startup Kippa , attempting to improve the life cycle of these small businesses with its finance management app, has raised $3.2 million in pre-seed funding.

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NerdWallet acquires small business loan marketplace Fundera

TechCrunch

It created a marketplace where small businesses could find loans , subsequently expanding into other areas like legal services, while also (like NerdWallet) offering free financial content. “It can be the wild wild west out there for small business owners,” Hecht said in a statement.

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This UK startup has come up with a unique way to verify small businesses on WhatsApp

TechCrunch

And it’s fair to say most people prefer messaging to calling when interacting with businesses. This would then be used to create a unique ID for the WhatsApp Business app. At this point, many small businesses often face a dilemma: They realize they require a second number (most of the time on another handset). per month).

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Intuit’s $12B Mailchimp acquisition is about expanding its small business focus

TechCrunch

But people tend to pigeonhole companies, and in this case they might see Intuit as purely a financial software company and Mailchimp as an email marketing firm and nothing more. If you go to the company website and scan the product set , it’s clearly all about managing finances for consumer and small businesses alike.

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Bastion is an all-in-one cybersecurity solution for small businesses

TechCrunch

For some of these products, we found that existing products on the markets were very expensive for what they offered. In the coming months, Bastion plans to build a network of partners that are already helping small and medium businesses and that can also start selling Bastion to their own customers.