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☆ Emata, a startup offering loans to farmers in East Africa, just raised $2.4 million with this 14-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Emata, a Ugandan startup that provides loans to farmers in East Africa, has raised $2.4 million in funding. It's also fundamentally unfair as farmers need capital to grow but a lot of money goes to people with connections, not the best farmers." Kampala-based Emata wants to be tech first in its offering and uses WhatsApp as a loan origination platform, given its popularity in a region where cell data is at a premium. The company claims it grew 7x in 2022 and could point to strong metrics when dealing with investors having already dispersed over $1 million in loans. Funding will go towards expanding the company's tech offering and looking into new verticals.

Persons: Bram van den Bosch, It's, Klarna, Niklas Adalberth's Norrsken, Draper Richards, Marcus Boström, van den Bosch, Emata Organizations: African Renaissance Partners, Zephyr Acorn, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Locations: Ugandan, East Africa, Uganda, Kampala

☆ Swan, a French embedded-finance startup, just raised $39.2 million using this 15-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Paris-based Swan has raised $39.2 million in Series B funding from Lakestar. Founded in 2019, the company offers banking-as-a-service and embedded finance products via an API. The startup will use its new funding to expand into new European markets. Swan, a banking-as-a-service fintech startup, has raised $39.2 million in new funding, which it plans to invest into its expansion into new European markets. Paris-based Swan provides a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) and embedded finance platform allowing companies to offer banking services to their customers.

Persons: Swan Organizations: Carrefour Locations: Paris, Lakestar

☆ Open Cosmos, a UK space tech startup that launches satellites for data collection, raised $50 million using this 13-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Open Cosmos, a UK space tech startup, has raised $50 million in fresh funding. Founded in 2015, Open Cosmos had only raised $7 million previously. Open Cosmos, a UK space tech startup that designs and launches satellites for data collection, has raised $50 million. Open Cosmos then shares this information to provide users with "actionable data" around the energy transition and natural resource monitoring. "We're quite an unusual space company, yes we do satellites but it's also about the data," Open Cosmos founder and CEO Rafel Jorda Siquier told Insider.

Persons: Rafel Jorda Siquier, We've, OpenCosmos, Wise, Taavet Hinrikus, Kheng Nam Lee, Siquier Organizations: Cosmos, Partners, Accenture Ventures, Banco Santander InnoEnergy Climate Tech Fund, Wille Finance, Claret Capital Partners, GGV Capital Locations: Harwell , United Kingdom, South America

☆ Norwegian AI startup Strise helps banks tackle financial crime. It just raised a $10.8 million Series A round with this 8-slide pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Norwegian AI startup Strise has raised $10.8 million in Series A funding. Strise will use the funding to expand its operations to the UK, where it plans to open an office. Strise, an AI startup that helps businesses deal with anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance issues, has raised $10.8 million in funding. Strise's Series A funding round was led by Atomico, with participation from existing investors including Maki.vc plus angels like Camilla Giesecke, COO at Klarna, and Riya Grover, CEO at Sequence. Check out Strise's Series A pitch deck below:

Persons: Orrick, It's, Marit Rødevand, Rødevand, Atomico, Camilla Giesecke, Riya Grover Locations: Oslo, Norwegian

☆ Big startups are a bust so prestige investors are fighting for deals into tiny European companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Funding to European startups across the board dropped by almost 60% to $23 billion in the first six months of 2023, according to Crunchbase data. ElevenLabs, a London-based artificial intelligence startup founded by Google and Palantir alumni, pulled in $18 million at a $100 million valuation a year after it was founded. Mistral, another European startup set up by ex-Facebook and DeepMind staffers, raised $113 million a month after it was founded. AI has been of particular interest to investors with similar hype surrounding a deal for London-based text-to-voice startup ElevenLabs. Industry stakeholders believe that teams springing from already successful companies to set up their own startups will be very attractive with some predicting startups founded between 2022 and 2024 primed to be very in demand in the future.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, David Schreiber, Duco van, Pivot, Marc, Antoine Lacroix, Romain Libeau, Sifted, Filip Dames, Dames Organizations: Google, Mistral, Facebook, Ventures, Cocoa, Club, Cherry Ventures, Sequoia, Industry Locations: Europe, London, Paris, Berlin

☆ Murdaugh’s Lawyers Seek New Trial, Saying Clerk Tampered With Jury
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | More About Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Alex Murdaugh, the once-influential South Carolina lawyer, was convicted in March of murdering his wife and younger son, the verdict was widely seen as a rebuke of corruption in a legal system that Mr. Murdaugh had bent to his benefit for years. Now, Mr. Murdaugh’s lawyers say that he is a victim of a corrupt judicial process, and are seeking a new trial and an F.B.I. In an explosive court filing on Tuesday, they claim that the clerk of court had a series of inappropriate conversations with jurors and committed other misconduct during his trial. Ms. Hill did not respond to several requests for comment. The state attorney general, Alan Wilson, said he was reviewing Mr. Murdaugh’s motion and would respond “through the legal process.”

Persons: Alex Murdaugh, Murdaugh, Rebecca Hill, ” Mr, Murdaugh’s, Hill, Alan Wilson Locations: South Carolina

☆ Tourists Were Told to Avoid Maui. Many Workers Want Them Back.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | More About Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Among them was Mr. Wegner’s grandmother, Lynn Manibog, who had helped raise him. Mr. Wegner has had almost no time to grieve. “Me and her are under a lot of stress,” Mr. Wegner said. In South Maui, seven of every 10 hotel rooms sit empty, compared with about two in 10 during normal times. The governor and lieutenant governor issued emergency proclamations in the first days after the fire, saying that all nonessential travel to Maui was “strongly discouraged.”

Persons: Wegner, Wegner’s, Lynn Manibog, Sabrina Kaitlyn Cuadro, That’s, Mr, ” Locations: Lahaina, “, State, South Maui, Maui

☆ Embedded finance, FinOps, and treasury management are grabbing VC attention right now despite a collapse in fintech funding, investors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Global VC fintech funding has been cut in half to $23 billion so far this year, per S&P data. Fintech startups focused on solving business issues have remained somewhat resilient. Globally venture capital funding to fintech companies dropped 49% year-on-year to $23 billion in the first half of 2023, according to S&P data. Within that, investment in consumer-facing fintech startups, such as banking and trading apps, has endured an even more torrid year, sliding by 73.8% to $1.9 billion in Q2. Insider spoke to four fintech investors who identified the areas within B2B fintech that are capturing their attention right now.

Persons: Khalil Hefaf, fintech, Hefaf, Uber, Banks, Alix Brunet, Europe's, Weavr, Griffin cofounders Allen Rohner, David Jarvis Griffin, Dan Chaplin, Kaushik Subramanian, Payrails cofounders Emre Talay, Orkhan Abudullayev, Nicolas Thouzeau Payrails, Chaplin Organizations: Target, Mass Mutual Ventures, Griffin, Dawn Capital, Treasury, Payrails, EQT Ventures, London, UBS Locations: Europe, digitize, London, Germany, Payrails

☆ After Losing Their Homes, Lahaina Parents Try to Save Their School Community
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | More About Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The flames that ripped through Lahaina needed only a few hours to take nearly everything from Aina Kohler. Her surfing school and cafe. The deadly fire on Aug. 8 destroyed King Kamehameha III Elementary School in Lahaina and forced all three of the other public schools in town to close until officials determine that the air and water are safe. As of Monday, nearly 60 percent of the 3,000 public school students in Lahaina, a historic town in West Maui, had not enrolled in another public school or signed up for remote classes, essentially vanishing from the school system. Kimo, whose education was already upended by Covid-19 closures, longs for some sense of normalcy with his classmates.

Persons: Aina Kohler, ’, Kohler’s, —, King Kamehameha, Kimo Varona, hasn’t, Kimo Organizations: King Kamehameha III Elementary Locations: Lahaina, West Maui, Covid

Officials have been bracing the public for the likelihood that the number of confirmed dead from the fires — which stands at 115 — will rise substantially. officials, along with Maui Police, the Red Cross and other agencies, examined various lists compiled by shelters, cross referencing and combining them into one tally. Many people died near Front Street in Lahaina, which runs along the sea wall, in their cars or in the ocean. So far, the authorities have released the names of 35 people who are confirmed dead and have been identified through DNA testing. On Thursday, the first child, a 7-year-old, was added to the list of confirmed deaths.

Persons: Mr, Pelletier, F.B.I Organizations: Maui Police Locations: Lahaina

Other prosecutions of Mr. Trump have also resulted in threats. Twelve of the 23 jurors were required to approve an indictment. Soon after the indictment was released late Monday, some on social media began scrutinizing the jurors’ identities and revealing their personal details. “I thought it only fair to share a few names from that grand jury,” one user wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, including possible addresses and phone numbers for several jurors. “I will continue to post the other jurors as I find them.”

Persons: Trump, Tanya S, Fani, Willis, “, ” Organizations: Facebook Locations: Texas, Washington, Georgia, Fulton County

☆ Marqo, a startup using AI and machine learning to improve search, just raised $5.2 million with this 14-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Vector search startup Marqo has raised $5.2 million in seed funding from Blackbird Ventures. "There's a huge opportunity to improve search," Tom Hamer, Marqo's cofounder and CEO said. Marqo, a startup that helps e-commerce businesses and marketplaces improve their search functionality, has raised $5.2 million. Its vector search uses machine learning (ML) and AI to capture the meaning and context of data such as text and images, transforming it into a numeric representation that can then be queried by users through an API. While vector search models have been around for a while, improved AI technology has made the sector more accessible.

Persons: Tom Hamer, Marqo's, Marqo, Hamer, Cohere's, Ivan Zhang, Aidan Gomez Organizations: Blackbird Ventures, Amazon, Fund Locations: London, Melbourne, Canadian

☆ Judge on Trump Case Once Worked Under Fani Willis
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | More About Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The landmark racketeering case in Atlanta against former President Donald J. Trump and others has been assigned to Scott F. McAfee, a recently appointed Fulton County Superior Court judge who was once supervised by the district attorney overseeing the case. Judge McAfee, 34, rose quickly in Georgia’s legal world after graduating from law school a decade ago, and one of his first jobs was in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. The division was led at the time by Fani T. Willis, the prosecutor overseeing the Trump case, according to a former district attorney and another lawyer who worked in the office at the time. Ms. Willis, who became the district attorney in 2021 after Judge McAfee had left the office, began a wide-ranging investigation of Mr. Trump and his allies regarding the 2020 election that culminated in a grand jury indictment on Monday night. A spokeswoman for Ms. Willis’s office did not return requests for comment about Judge McAfee’s time with the office.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Scott F, McAfee, Judge McAfee, Fani T, Willis, McAfee’s Organizations: Attorney’s Locations: Atlanta, Fulton, Fulton County

☆ How did a publicist tied to Kanye West get caught up in the Georgia investigation?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | More About Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But another, Trevian Kutti, is better known for her work in the cannabis and entertainment industries, where she has been tied to Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. Ms. Kutti showed up at the home of a rank-and-file Fulton County election worker, Ruby Freeman, in January 2021, after conspiracy theories about Ms. Freeman improperly handling votes had spread online. In addition to her work as a publicist, Ms. Kutti has also lobbied on behalf of cannabis companies in Illinois and operated a high-end fashion store. She has become an ardent supporter of Mr. Trump in recent years. Ye has met with Mr. Trump in the past and voiced his support for him.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trevian, Ye, Kanye West, Kutti, Ruby Freeman, Freeman Organizations: Kanye, Reuters, Mr Locations: Georgia, Fulton, Illinois

It was moments later when she caught a glimpse of smoke in the distance. At first it was a wisp, but within minutes it had grown thicker, rippling down the hillside on violent winds. Ms. Denton Fuqua, 32, and her husband were worried. They grabbed a few essentials and prepared to leave in their cars. “People were just like, ‘Oh, are you heading out?’ Ms. Denton Fuqua recalled.

Persons: Chelsea Denton Fuqua, Denton Fuqua, —, Ms, “ Organizations: Chelsea Locations: Lahaina, Maui

Former President Donald J. Trump was indicted for a fourth time on Monday, this time over what prosecutors in Atlanta described as his and his allies’ efforts to unlawfully undo his election loss in Georgia in 2020. The indictment follows a lengthy investigation by Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and includes 13 charges against Mr. Trump, as well as charges against 18 other Trump allies who Ms. Willis said were part of a “criminal enterprise” seeking to overturn the Georgia election results. Here’s what to know. Trump was charged under Georgia’s RICO ActProsecutors charged Mr. Trump and his allies under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, which allows them to tie together various crimes committed by different people by arguing that they were acting together for a common criminal goal. Georgia’s RICO Act is patterned after a federal law that was passed to combat organized crime groups but in recent years has been used effectively in white-collar crime and political corruption cases.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Fani T, Willis Organizations: Mr, Trump, Organization Locations: Atlanta, Georgia, Fulton County

☆ Sequoia-backed insurance tech startup SureIn just raised $4.4 million in seed funding with this 13-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

German insurance tech startup SureIn just raised $4.4 million in a seed funding round. We got an exclusive look at the 13-slide pitch deck it used to raise the fresh funds. German insurance tech startup SureIn has raised $4.4 million in fresh funds. The wider insurance tech market has been difficult for the past year with VC funding to the sector falling dramatically to 2018 levels so far this year. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck SureIn used the raise the fresh funds below:

Persons: I've, Daniel Dierkes, Dierkes, Robin Capital Organizations: Robin Locations: Sequoia's, Berlin

Image Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and lawyer for Mr. Trump, was charged as well in the indictment. The indictment bundles together several efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to reverse the election results in Georgia. The two women served as election workers in Georgia in 2020 and were wrongfully accused of fraud by Mr. Trump and his allies. Patrick Labat, the Fulton County sheriff, said this month that unless he was told otherwise, Mr. Trump would be booked in the same way as any other defendant. Image Mr. Trump has until Aug. 25 to surrender in Fulton County, where he would be arraigned on the charges and enter a plea.

Persons: District Attorney Fani, Willis, Donald Trump, Donald J, Trump, Fani T, Ms, Jon Cherry, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Trump’s, Rudolph W, Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John C, Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Nicole Craine, Robert Cheeley, Ray Smith III, Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, Shuran Huang, Patrick Labat, Kenny Holston, New York Times Trump, Ché Alexander, Richard Fausset, Danny Hakim, Anna Betts Organizations: District Attorney, Mr, Trump, Organization, . Credit, The New York Times, New, New York City, The New York, New York Times, Reuters, court’s Locations: Fulton County, Georgia, Atlanta, New York, Michigan , Arizona, Pennsylvania, Coffee County, Fulton

Mr. Trump was also charged with attempting to obstruct an official proceeding — the certification of the election results by Congress. The indictment said Mr. Trump and six unnamed co-conspirators had pushed state legislators and election officials to change electoral votes won by Mr. Biden to votes for Mr. Trump. The July indictment accused Mr. Trump, Mr. De Oliveira and Mr. Nauta of trying to delete Mar-a-Lago security footage. Once he was sworn in as president, Mr. Trump reimbursed Mr. Cohen. Rather than publish her account, the tabloid suppressed it in cooperation with Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen, prosecutors say.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, Jack Smith, Alvin L, Bragg, Joseph R, Biden Jr, Biden, Prosecutors, Mike Pence, Mr, Smith, Walt Nauta, Smith’s, Carlos De Oliveira, De Oliveira, Nauta, ’, Stormy Daniels, Michael D, Cohen, Daniels, Karen McDougal, McDougal, Bragg’s, Juan M, Merchan, “ Trump, Merchan’s, Mimi E, Rocah, Letitia James, James, Donald Jr, Eric, Ivanka Trump, Maggie Haberman, Glenn Thrush, Jonah E, Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Michael Gold, Michael Rothfeld, Ed Shanahan, Richard Fausset, Ashley Wong Organizations: Mr, Capitol, Federal, Court, Congress, Justice Department, Mar, Manhattan, National Enquirer, Trump Tower, U.S, Trump Organization, Trump National Golf Club Westchester, New York, Civil, New, Trump Locations: Manhattan, Lago, United States, Palm Beach, Fla, Mar, New York, Westchester County, Bromwich

These two firefighters declined to be named because they were not authorized to discuss the emergency effort. The water pressure was a continuing problem, he said. At one point, the crew found a hydrant further north that seemed to have more water, and they doused a commercial building. They left the scene, he said, hoping that the water they had applied to the structure would be enough to keep it safe. “I thought it had a chance,” Mr. Ho said.

Persons: Ho, Mr, ” Organizations: Hawaii Fire Fighters Association Locations: Maui, Lahaina

None of the 80 warning sirens placed around Maui were activated by the island or the state’s emergency management agencies in response to the devastating Lahaina fire, a spokesman confirmed on Saturday. Hawaii boasts what it describes as the largest system of outdoor public safety warning sirens in the world, alarms that blare in cases of danger. Residents who survived the fire have wondered aloud why no one activated the sirens, which emit noises at a higher decibel level than a loud rock concert and can be heard from more than half a mile away. The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s spokesman, Adam Weintraub, confirmed on Saturday that the sirens were not activated, and he stressed that the sirens alone would not have been a sign to evacuate, but for residents to seek more information. Mr. Weintraub said other alert systems were activated — including alerts that were sent to cellphones and through radio and television stations — but the power was out for much of the day in Lahaina on Tuesday, and many residents said they never got any warnings.

Persons: Adam Weintraub, Weintraub Organizations: Hawaii, decibel, Hawaii Emergency Management Locations: Maui, Hawaii, Lahaina

When the brush fire was first spotted early on Tuesday, Maui County officials ordered evacuations in an area on the eastern edge of town near a school. But within a few hours, officials announced on Facebook and on the county website that the blaze had been “100% contained.” And for the next few hours, while the county Emergency Management Agency warned people to stay away from several blocked roads, there appear to have been no further evacuation orders. Only as the fire spread rapidly into Lahaina, rekindled by powerful winds, did officials order more evacuations, according to statements posted on the county’s website and social media accounts. But by then, in the afternoon, some people were already dodging flames and thick smoke as they made last-minute efforts to reach safety, and many residents said they never received any alerts. At a news conference on Thursday night, the fire chief, Bradford Ventura, said the blaze had moved so quickly that it was “nearly impossible” for emergency management officials to send out evacuation orders in time.

Persons: Maui, Bradford Ventura Organizations: Facebook, Emergency Management Agency Locations: Lahaina, Maui County

☆ How $7.75 billion Hopin went from pandemic darling to selling off its flagship business for $50 million and handing back some investor cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Tasmin Lockwood | Michael Cogley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Virtual-events startup Hopin was a pandemic winner when it hit a $7.8 billion valuation in 2021. Now its CEO is stepping down, it's selling off parts of its business, and is set to hand back investor cash. But as vaccinations arrived and the travel restrictions eased, demand for Hopin's platform waned. "The pandemic was an extraordinary time to be investing," one London-based tech investor who had not backed Hopin said. Armed with more than $1 billion in investor cash, Boufarhat opted to make acquisitions.

Persons: Johnny Boufarhat, Boufarhat, Andreessen Horowitz, Catalyst, Slack, Hopin, Johnny ", Hopin Boufarhat, outsized, Streamyard, Badri Rajasekar, Klarna Organizations: Tiger, UPS, RingCentral, University of Manchester, Financial Times, Venture, Founders, Microsoft, Private Locations: London, Australia, Lebanese, US, Dubai, Papua New Guinea, Switzerland, Hopin

☆ Deepset, an AI startup that helps companies build apps with LLMs, just raised $30 million with this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Deepset, a German AI startup that offers LLM developer tools, has raised $30 million. The company wants to expand its Haystack product and grow its presence in the US. German AI startup Deepset has raised $30 million in a round led by Revolut investor Balderton Capital. Deepset's capital raise comes as AI startups account for a higher proportion of venture capital dealmaking. AI startups raised $25 billion in the opening half of the year against a backdrop of falling VC investment, Crunchbase data shows.

Persons: Milos Rusic, Rusic Organizations: Balderton Capital, Airbus, Siemens, Balderton, GV, Harpoon Ventures Locations: London, Berlin

“I’m looking at a road that’s open now, whereas for this last four and a half years there hasn’t been a path,” she said. “We, too, didn’t know a lot of the details that the prosecution knew,” said Amy Mallinger, whose grandmother was killed in the shooting. It was real, and it’s hard to do.”Many survivors said that the trial was an important part of a tragic story. “Had we not had this trial, the deeds of this criminal would have been glossed over in the annals of history. One, Miri Rabinowitz, whose husband was killed, said executing the gunman would be a “bitter irony” because her husband had been devoted to “the sanctity of life.”

Persons: “, hasn’t, “ It’s, ” Ms, ”, Amy Mallinger, Audrey Glickman, Miri Rabinowitz

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