China’s DiDi Chuxing has made another big move in the global ride-hailing market, by partnering with Middle Eastern brand Careem. The Dubai-based firm claims to be present in 80 Middle Eastern cities,…
“We Want to Promote Sustainable Entrepreneurship”: Monaco’s New Incubator Sets its Hopes High
The tiny European nation of Monaco is known for many things, not least its casinos, marina and reputation as a hangout for the world’s rich and famous. But this September a tech…
Impossible Made Possible: California Foodtech Startup Wins $75m Round
Impossible Foods, the plant-based burger company, has secured a $75 million funding round from some of the world’s richest people–as it locks into a battle with competitor Beyond Meat. The Redwood City,…
Revolut: Speed, Efficiency and Scale for a Fintech Heavyweight
London-based fintech firm Revolut has emerged as a heavyweight of the European scene. The company, which pledges to offer pre-paid card customers real-time exchange rates and low-cost money transfers, closed a $5.3…
Tijuana: From Sin City to Software Sanctuary
When Ramon Toledo ditched a career in diplomacy for tech, in 2001, he knew success would be a tall order. He had spent years matchmaking between the public and private worlds at…
Is Uber on the Wane? Don’t Bet on it Yet
Earlier this week DiDi Chuxing and SoftBank plowed $2 billion into Grab, the largest ride-hailing company in Southeast Asia, valuing it at around $6bn. “Markets everywhere are still at infancy stage with…
Cape Town is Battling its Nation’s Economic Woes to Become Africa’s Tech Capital
South Africa is suffering an economic crisis. Growth has slowed to 0.3%, its slowest since 2009, and unemployment is at a 14-year high of 27.7%. Manufacturing and agricultural job markets have shrunk.…
Payments, Bureaucracy and Brain Drains: Cairo Stands at a Startup Crossroads
When Willie Elamien first showed up in Cairo in 2014, the city’s startup scene was very different than it is now. There was hardly any government support. People rarely saw entrepreneurialism as…
Tech Giants Join Net Neutrality Protests
Some of the digital world’s largest companies have joined forces to protest the US government’s plans to roll back net neutrality. Google, Facebook, Amazon and Airbnb are just some of the firms…
Istanbul Continues to Grow as a Global Startup Hub – Despite its Sultan’s Power Grab
These are strange times in Turkey. In 2015 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan barely clung onto power in an unconvincing election victory, just two years after popular protesters swept through Turkey from Istanbul’s…