Techmeme: Nigerian fintech Tingo, which processes ~$4B in e-commerce transactions annually and is valued at $6.3B, seeks $500M to expand in Africa and an NYSE IPO in H1 (Bloomberg)

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February 21, 2022, 3:20 PM

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Queenie Wong / CNET:

Trump Media & Technology Group debuts Truth Social on the US App Store, where the free app hit No. 1; some users got errors or were waitlisted when signing up — Some people who downloaded the social media app received error messages when they tried to create an account. Others were placed on a waitlist.

Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:

Crypto exchange FTX.US launches FTX Gaming, a gaming unit offering “crypto-as-a-service” for game companies to launch tokens and add NFT support — Crypto exchange FTX is launching its own gaming unit, aimed at encouraging more game publishers to embrace cryptocurrencies, blockchain networks and non-fungible tokens.

More: The Verge, ZDNet, Blockworks, CoinDesk, City A.M., Coinspeaker, Cointelegraph, Decrypt, and The Block

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Despite billions spent over 15 years, Amazon's grocery strategy is unprofitable and incoherent; Numerator: Amazon and Whole Foods had 2.4% US share in December — - Amazon's grocery endeavors have cost many billions of dollars over the past 15 years but have yet to yield a coherent strategy.

Tweets: @epro and @modestproposal1

Jeanny Yu / Bloomberg:

Tencent shares fell 5.2% on Monday as Chinese tech stocks had their worst two-day drop since July 2021, amid fears of impending Chinese regulatory crackdowns — Chinese technology shares had their worst two-day drop since July due to renewed fears Beijing may roll out more restrictions for private enterprise.

More: Cointelegraph. Tweets: @schuldensuehner and @pelstrom

Bloomberg:

Nigerian fintech Tingo, which processes ~$4B in e-commerce transactions annually and is valued at $6.3B, seeks $500M to expand in Africa and an NYSE IPO in H1 — Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on Twitter — Tingo Inc, which does most of its business in Nigeria …

The Guardian:

An investigation shows how vigilantes use Facebook to incite ethnic killings in Ethiopia, accusing Meta of inaction on hate speech and misinformation — Social media giant accused of inaction after users post ‘horrifying and hateful content’ Civilians walk past an abandoned tank …

More: The Bureau of Investigative …. Tweets: @campuscodi, @profsked, and @dosima_org

Allison Johnson / The Verge:

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review: great performance, improved cameras, and welcome S Pen support, but lackluster battery and unflattering night selfie portraits — A worthy Note successor that stands alone — Phones in a flagship lineup have come to feel like variations on a theme.

More: AppleInsider, Gizmodo, DXOMARK, Android Authority, Phandroid, PCMag, Tom's Guide, Android Headlines, Engadget, and ZDNet

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Skael, which provides no-code automation tools for enterprises, raises a $38M Series A led by RTP Global, bringing its total funding to $42M — No-code platforms, which let users create apps leveraging tools that don't require programming knowledge, are gaining popularity in the enterprise as their value becomes apparent.

More: SiliconANGLE, Yahoo Finance, and FinSMEs

Liz Hughes / IoT World Today:

Motorq, a connected-car data analysis service for automakers and dealers, raises a $40M Series B led by Insight Partners — Motorq's platform helps fleet managers improve efficiency while reducing costs — Motorq has raised $40 million to advance its connected vehicle platform.

More: FinSMEs, GlobeNewswire News Room, Motorq, and Global Fleet

Tatiana Bautzer / Reuters:

Brazil-based Sólides, which offers HR management software to over 12K Brazilian businesses with ~4M employees combined, raises $100M from Warburg Pincus — Private equity firm Warburg Pincus has invested $100 million in Brazilian human resources startup Solides for an undisclosed minority stake …

More: Warburg Pincus and LABS English

Will Gottsegen / CoinDesk:

OpenSea says 32 users had NFTs stolen as part of a targeted phishing campaign that scammed them into signing malicious smart contracts — Emails purporting to be from the NFT marketplace about a planned smart contract migration may have been a phishing attack.

Source: @dfinzer, @opensea, and @xanderatallah. More: Blockworks, Crypto Briefing, KnowTechie, ZDNet, The Metacoin Occasionally, HackRead, TechRadar, Coinspeaker, Waivly, The Daily Hodl, CoinQuora, CryptoSlate, Bitcoin News, crypto.news, PC Gamer, Web3 is going just great, PYMNTS.com, Ubergizmo, Bloomberg, VICE, Engadget, SiliconANGLE, CNBC, AppleInsider, Slashdot, Crowdfund Insider, PCMag, CoinJournal, Crypto Daily, InsideBitcoins.com, ZyCrypto, Decrypt, Ausheat Crypto, and Cointelegraph

Tweets: @pluggedinn, @0xfoobar, @dfinzer, @nesotual, @isotile, @peckshield, @nadavahollander, @mekkaokereke, @nadavahollander, @dfinzer, @eevee, @dfinzer, @dfinzer, @opensea, @dfinzer, @lazulcapital, @iwriteok, @jsoabove, @carnage4life, @byyourlogic, @mikeburgersburg, @opensea, @johnlegere, @tha_rami, @molly0xfff, @josephmdurso, @murderxbryan, @coinerstakingls, @nadavahollander, @alexstamos, @mikeburgersburg, @nadavahollander, @jon_hq, @grummz, @kanakhey, @nick_craver, @mikeburgersburg, @dfinzer, @jarnomn, @iamnomad, @opensea, @austen, @levie, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @dfinzer, @ysiu, @caseynewton, @antsstyle, @pbump, @jesseltaylor, @dao_joker, @fintechfrank, @mdudas, @cryptofelixx, @msuiche, @ncweaver, @dguido, @ajfromdiscord, @nix_eth, @gameofbitcoin, @randizuckerberg, @whet, @axecapya, @coindesk, @carnage4life, @bitboy_crypto, and @joeuchill

Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes:

Check, which provides payroll digitization software, raises a $75M Series C led by Stripe, bringing its total funding to $119M and valuing the startup at $725M — As startups increasingly embed payroll into their software products, Check, a three-year-old startup that provides software tools …

More: checkhq.com. Tweets: @forbes, @ericstromberg, and @forbes

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Philippines-based PayMongo, which helps merchants to accept digital payments, raises a $31M Series B, following a $12M Series A in September 2020 led by Stripe — Philippines-based fintech PayMongo, which enables merchants to accept digital payments, announced today it has raised $31 million …

More: DealStreetAsia, Tech in Asia, and Forbes. Tweets: @helloceebs

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

PrimaryBid, which helps startups include retail investors in IPOs and follow-on fundraises, raises a $190M Series C led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 — Thanks to the growth of fintech, financial services like investing are getting ever more accessible to the wider population of consumers.

More: Insider, Coinspeaker, Tech.eu, Finextra, and AltFi. Tweets: @ingridlunden. Thanks:@ingridlunden

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