The round was co-led by Flourish Ventures and 1kx, with backing from White Star Capital and Fabric Ventures. With this, the company’s total funding now stands at $9.2 million.

Kulipa builds payment infrastructure that allows fintech companies to issue cards funded directly from stablecoin balances. These cards can be used anywhere card networks are accepted, including for everyday purchases and ATM withdrawals.

Stablecoins already handle more than $300 billion in daily settlements, but their use in everyday payments is still limited. The systems that connect blockchain-based transactions to traditional card networks are still fragmented and usually require large upfront capital.

Kulipa says its platform removes some of these limitations. It verifies balances and settles transactions onchain, reducing the need for prefunding.

At the same time, it takes on fraud liability for issued cards, which lowers operational pressure for its partners.

“Stablecoins have proven their value as a settlement layer, but using them in everyday financial products is still early,” said Axel Cateland, Founder and CEO of Kulipa.

“Card issuance is the bridge between onchain balances and real-world payments. We built Kulipa to give regulated fintech platforms the compliant, capital-efficient infrastructure they need to operate at global scale.”

The company operates what it describes as a local-first model, with regulatory coverage across the European Union, Argentina and Nigeria. It is also working on expansion into the United States through BIN sponsorship.

Kulipa launched its infrastructure in February 2025 and since then, it has issued more than 120,000 cards and signed 20 customers. These include Flutterwave, Solflare, nSave and Ready.

The company also reports a 70% month-on-month increase in transaction volume.

“At Flutterwave, we’re focused on building payment infrastructure that works across markets at scale. As stablecoins become a more practical settlement option, it’s important that businesses can turn those balances into real-world spending,” said Olugbenga Agboola, Founder & CEO of Flutterwave.

“Partnering with Kulipa allows us to extend stablecoin value into globally accepted payments in a compliant, scalable way.”

“Kulipa has enabled Ready to become an onchain alternative to banks,” said Itamar Lesuisse, CEO of Ready. “With their infrastructure, we can issue globally accepted cards directly from stablecoin balances, giving our users seamless access to everyday spending in a compliant and scalable way.”

Kulipa was founded in 2023 by a team with experience across payments, compliance and technology. Cateland previously worked on Apple Pay and Google Pay deployments at Mastercard.

Co-founder and CTO Michael Shynar has worked at WhatsApp and Google, while Head of Compliance Benoit Roger brings experience from Binance and Nickel Bank.

Investors say the company is addressing a key gap in the market.

“We’re seeing stablecoins moving beyond cross-border settlement and becoming part of real financial infrastructure,” said Ameya Upadhyay, General Partner, Flourish Ventures.

“The missing piece has been compliant, scalable card issuance. Kulipa fills that gap by combining capital efficiency with multi-region regulatory coverage, enabling fintech platforms to bring stablecoin settlement into everyday payments.”

1kx Founding Partner Christopher Heymann added, “Stablecoins are reshaping how money moves globally, but for mainstream adoption, people need to spend them as easily as they spend fiat. 

“Kulipa meets users where they already are, starting with the card in their wallet, and gives businesses a turnkey way to offer that experience. We believe this payments layer is critical infrastructure for the next phase of crypto adoption.”

Kulipa says it will use the new funding to strengthen its infrastructure and support more fintech platforms looking to offer stablecoin-based payments at scale.

The post Kulipa Raises $6.2 Million to Expand Stablecoin Card Payments Across Africa, Other Markets appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The funding round was led by Radical Ventures, with participation from a16z Speedrun. New investors include Brendan O’Driscoll and Larry James Erwin.

To date, the company has raised $8.4 million with backers including Radical Ventures, a16z Speedrun and Comma Capital, alongside operators such as Aidan Gomez and executives from Braze.

General Magic builds automated agents for insurance firms. These agents answer routine questions, collect documents and follow up with customers. They operate across the insurance lifecycle, from pre-quote checks to post-quote engagement and claims coordination.

The company says its technology connects directly to broker management systems, quoting platforms and customer relationship systems already in use.

In early deployments with one of the world’s largest general insurers, General Magic reduced quote times from around 30 minutes to less than three. The reduction was achieved through an SMS-based agent that handles clarification and follow-ups automatically.

“Too much of insurance still relies on manual follow-through across calls, inboxes, and scattered systems,” said Jai Mansukhani, co-founder and president of General Magic.

“We focus on keeping customers engaged at every stage of the lifecycle, not just at quote or claim. Our agents handle the routine work that slows teams down, while giving insurance leaders real visibility into what customers are asking, where they are getting stuck, and how they are feeling.

“When that engagement and data flow directly into core systems, teams move faster and customers feel genuinely supported.”

At the centre of the company’s innovation is a product called Cell. It connects to broker systems, rating platforms and CRMs. Teams can deploy it through SMS, iMessage and RCS.

Customers can send questions by text, while the agent pulls data from internal systems, requests missing details and updates records as the process moves forward.

The company is currently working with insurers across motor and life lines, where follow-up after issuing a quote usually determines whether a sale is completed.

General Magic was founded by Anthony Azrak and Jai Mansukhani. Both previously built and sold technology products into established industries, then moved into insurance after dealing with repeated delays and high premiums following a water leak claim.

The founders say the industry works, but customer experience sometimes breaks down during important moments such as quoting and claims.

Retention is also a challenge across the insurance sector. Acquiring new customers costs more than keeping existing ones. With more policies being sold digitally and customers comparing prices at renewal, firms risk losing business after investing time and money to secure it.

Sanjana Basu, partner at Radical Ventures, said: “Most of the world’s financial and insurance data is locked inside rigid, legacy systems that were never designed for the AI era. General Magic isn’t trying to convince enterprises to throw away that infrastructure. Instead, they are giving them a way to finally talk to it. 

“By building a reasoning layer that sits on top of existing systems of record, the General Magic team are unlocking a massive amount of trapped value. 

“This is how the Fortune 500 becomes AI-native. Not by rebuilding from scratch, but by bridging the gap between old data and new intelligence.”

Troy Kirwin, investment partner at a16z Speedrun, added: “We’ve watched Anthony and Jai grow exponentially both during their speedrun cohort and in the months after. They are building a truly compelling product that we believe will revolutionise workflows across insurance carriers and brokerages globally. 

“I have a personal thesis that outsiders will disrupt legacy industries, and General Magic has helped buttress this thesis with the immense progress they’ve made. We are excited to deepen our partnership through supporting their seed round.”

Pete Tessier, BFA, CAIB, president at insurance MGA Taycon Risk, said: “What I have seen with General Magic and their approach to AI was a willingness to adapt to the insurance industry’s needs.

This is significant because of the varied nuances of the insurance industry and how its products are distributed and why internal and external customer journeys are different.

“The challenge will be making it scale across all channels of insurance product distribution. This might be the first true ‘game changer’ for the industry and deliver on customer experience and expectations”

General Magic plans to expand into more insurance lines and workflows with a focus on high-intent moments where communication gaps cost brokers and insurers time and revenue.

The post General Magic Raises $7.2m Seed Funding to Cut Insurance Quote Time to Three Minutes appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

From the Spring 2026 batch, startups accepted into YC can choose to take the standard $500,000 seed investment in USDC instead of traditional bank transfers. 

The funds can be sent over Ethereum, Solana or Base, according to Nemil Dalal, a visiting partner at Y Combinator who focuses on crypto.

YC’s core deal remains $500,000 for 7% equity, but what changes is the rail the money travels on.

For founders operating outside the United States, especially in markets where they face banking delays and foreign exchange friction, the option is a big win. 

Stablecoin transfers settle almost instantly and cost a fraction of traditional wires. In some cases, the difference between waiting days and receiving funds in seconds can affect how quickly a young company gets off the ground.

Dalal said the appeal is strongest in emerging markets, where founders find cross-border payments stressful. Stablecoins remove many of those limitations without changing the economics of the deal.

Inside YC circles, the decision has also led to talks about risk. Founders are usually advised to keep operations predictable wherever possible. 

Build boldly, yes, but do not gamble with payroll, compliance or treasury management. Your startup is already risky enough.

That is still part of YC’s thinking. The accelerator is not asking founders to speculate or hold volatile assets. USDC is designed to track the US dollar, and YC is not encouraging startups to manage crypto portfolios. The option is about transfer speed and access, not financial experimentation.

“Stablecoins are one of the key pillars for us,” Dalal said. “So we just want to live and breathe that as well.”

This is the first time a top-tier accelerator has formally offered stablecoins as a default funding option. While crypto-focused venture firms have used similar methods for years, most established investors have stayed with bank wires. 

Dalal said he was not aware of any legacy venture capital firms that provide founders with this choice.

“We’re excited for a world where, in the future, we think a lot of startups will eventually start raising capital on-chain,” he said.

In July 2025, President Donald Trump signed a bill that set out regulations for crypto assets in the United States, giving stablecoins a defined legal footing. 

That clarity has changed how large institutions view digital dollars, moving them from the edges of finance into day-to-day infrastructure.

Responding to this, technology firms like Stripe completed a $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin startup Bridge in February 2025 and later backed its own blockchain built for stablecoin payments. 

Cloudflare announced plans to launch a stablecoin in September, while Klarna introduced a payments token in November.

These came during a period when crypto prices were increasing. Since then, the market has cooled. Bitcoin and other major tokens have slid towards multi-month lows, dampening enthusiasm in some corners of the industry.

Dalal argues that the slowdown has not affected interest in stablecoins.

“The excitement on stablecoins is just growing,” he said. “It’s actually agnostic of prices.”

Unlike speculative tokens, stablecoins are now used as plumbing, a way to move money quickly, cheaply and across borders without relying on correspondent banks. 

For startups, especially those hiring internationally or paying suppliers in different currencies, the utility is immediate.

YC’s move also aligns with its recent drive to attract more blockchain-focused founders. Last year, the accelerator partnered with Base and Coinbase Ventures to encourage startups building crypto-related products. 

Offering funding through the same rails those companies work on brings practice closer to principle.

For now, Y Combinator says the stablecoins funding option is voluntary. Founders who prefer traditional banking can stick with it. 

The post Y Combinator to Offer Startup Funding in USDC Stablecoins From Spring 2026 appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The round was co-led by Moxxie Ventures and Mercuri, joined by EWOR, Tekton Ventures, Amigos Venture Capital and six unicorn founders. 

Their support comes only months after the company’s two young founders topped AndroidWorld, an influential benchmark for mobile-device automation, beating long-established research groups from Google DeepMind, ByteDance, Microsoft Research and Alibaba.

Unlike web developers, mobile teams usually wait weeks to push even small updates through. Minitap argues that this drag has held the industry back for years. 

The company says its platform lets teams work at a pace closer to the web, cutting feature-delivery cycles from six weeks to a few days.

Nicolas Dehandschoewercker, Minitap’s co-founder and CEO, said the long delays in mobile development impacted their motivation. “We spent two years building our first viral mobile product, today, and I’m embarrassed by that timeline,” he said. He added that “Mobile is 60% of internet usage but moves at 10% of web speed. Every consumer app company (Duolingo, Calm, Hinge etc) ships 5x more experiments on web than mobile. We built Minitap to close that gap for everyone.”

His co-founder, Luc Mahoux-Nakamura, stressed the need for faster testing across consumer apps. “Every consumer mobile company needs to experiment faster. The companies that run 10x more experiments will win their markets. We’re building the infrastructure that makes that speed possible.”

The pair grew up in a small village in Burgundy, studied side by side, and later built several projects together before launching Minitap. Their path included early products, time in military school, engineering research, and work on drone infrastructure, an experience they now say gave them a rare mix of skills.

Investors appear to agree. Daniel Dippold, founder and CEO of EWOR, described the team’s speed and technical range as a competitive advantage. 

“Nicolas is leading one of the fastest teams I’ve seen. It comes from years of working together, knowing mobile inside out, and understanding how to build AI systems that hold up. The combination of AI research capabilities, mobile development skills, and sheer hunger of will is unprecedented and ideal for solving this specific problem.”

Minitap’s platform is built on two key components: mobile-use, an open-source framework that allows automated systems to operate smartphones like real users; and minitap cloud, an infrastructure capable of spinning up thousands of mobile configurations at once. 

Together, these tools help teams generate code, test it across devices, flag errors, and deliver working features far faster than traditional workflows.

Their speedy progress on AndroidWorld brought attention earlier this year. Within their first 40 days, they reached the top of the benchmark and later released their framework openly, drawing more than 1,900 GitHub stars.

The seed round also attracted founders behind companies such as Hugging Face, Last.fm, Adjust, SumUp, FlixBus and Worldcoin, alongside operators from OpenAI, DeepMind, LangChain and LlamaIndex. Investors say the founders’ momentum was difficult to overlook. 

Katie Jacobs Stanton of Moxxie Ventures said: “When you see two 23-year-olds from rural France beat Google in 40 days, you recognize something rare. Nico and Luc are solving a massive problem that they uniquely understand and are moving at an urgent speed.”

Today, Minitap is being used by consumer mobile teams that want to run more experiments without expanding their engineering headcount. The company says its tools will eventually allow product managers to describe a feature, drop in a design, and have code generated and tested in a single afternoon.

Mercuri partner Esha Vatsa believes the long-term potential is vital. “Minitap is one of the first companies that is bringing agentic AI to mobile use and possibly the very first that is taking a full-stack approach to enable the use of AI coding agents for mobile app development. This is a substantial challenge and a huge opportunity that Nico and Luc are uniquely positioned to solve.”

Minitap founders say their vision is to enable the development of mobile apps that adapt themselves automatically, running experiments, studying user behaviour, generating improvements and rolling out new versions with minimal human involvement.

The post Minitap Raises $4.1m to Speed Up Mobile App Development appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

With the investment, the firm is returning to its roots following years of challenges, including the collapse of FTX and a major structural overhaul.

The venture firm announced a $750 million fund for Series A startups and a $200 million fund dedicated to seed-stage ventures. 

Same sizes as the ones launched in 2021, the current fund is an intentional nod to stability after what many investors have described as one of Sequoia’s most challenging periods.

“Markets go up and down, but our strategy remains consistent. We’re always looking for outlier founders with ideas to build generational businesses,” said Bogomil Balkansky, partner at Sequoia’s early-stage investment team.

The firm’s current goal of early-stage investing seeks to capture promising startups before valuations spiral. With AI startup prices increasing to high levels, Sequoia wants to get in early, when ownership stakes are more meaningful and pricing is still grounded in potential rather than later.

This disciplined focus is a cultural and operational reset for the firm. After losing over $200 million in its failed investment in cryptocurrency exchange FTX and spinning off its India and China arms, now Peak XV Partners and HongShan, Sequoia has bolstered its focus on the U.S. and European markets. 

The firm’s internal restructuring aims to simplify decision-making and strengthen engagement with founders from the earliest stages of their journey.

“Our ambition has always been and continues to be to identify these founders as early as possible; to roll up our sleeves and be a very active participant in their company-building journey,” Balkansky added.

Sequoia’s recent portfolio choices show a strong tilt toward AI infrastructure and developer tools rather than purely consumer-facing products. 

Among its notable early investments are Xbow, focused on AI security testing; Traversal, a reliability engineering firm; and Reflection AI, an open-source alternative to DeepSeek. 

Sequoia’s introduction of Reflection AI to Nvidia’s Jensen Huang reportedly led to a $500 million investment from the chipmaker.

The firm’s earlier investments in Clay, Harvey, n8n, Sierra, and Temporal have also multiplied in value, further validating its early-entry strategy. 

Beyond capital, Sequoia continues to provide hands-on support, helping with executive recruitment, customer connections, and strategic partnerships.

While the firm’s name remains synonymous with success stories like Airbnb, Google, Nvidia, and Stripe, Sequoia is acutely aware that reputation alone cannot sustain its legacy. 

In its newly renovated headquarters, every investor has handwritten a reminder on the wall: “We are only as good as our next investment.”

This simple phrase encapsulates Sequoia’s renewed mindset, a blend of humility and conviction that even with AI exuberance, the firm’s value lies in its ability to spot the next transformative idea before anyone else. The new Sequoia Capital early-stage funds are just right on time.

The post Sequoia Capital Launches $950 Million Early-Stage Funds to Strengthen AI, Startup Investments appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This brings the firm’s total assets under management (AUM) to $250 million, a commendable achievement for the Washington, D.C.-based investment firm.

Founded in 2016, AAF has built a reputation for identifying early winners in global tech and innovation. The firm has made 138 direct investments and supported 39 emerging managers across 43 fund vintages. 

Its portfolio has already produced five unicorns, Jasper, Current, Flutterwave, Drata, and Hello Heart, alongside 20 successful exits, including TruOptik, MoneyLion, Even Financial, and Portfolium, with a combined enterprise value of $2 billion.

The Axis Fund represents AAF’s fourth vintage and is anchored by Mubadala Capital, as well as a network of family offices spanning the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. 

Other backers include general partners from major U.S.-based asset management firms, a multi-billion-dollar venture capital firm, and a publicly traded company.

What makes The Axis Fund unique is its data-driven strategy. AAF is leveraging its limited partner (LP) relationships with emerging managers to gain access to private market intelligence that isn’t publicly available on platforms like Crunchbase or CB Insights. 

This “data licensing” approach allows AAF to identify promising companies before they hit mainstream visibility.

So far, the fund has already invested in 25 pre-seed and seed funds and made five direct investments into early-stage and growth companies. Collectively, the fund’s underlying managers have exposure to around 800 venture-backed companies formed between 2021 and 2025.

Speaking on the fund’s approach, Kyle Hendrick, general partner and managing director, said: “Over the past decade, we have found that the richest dataset of private market companies at the earliest stages of their formation is accessed only through LP checks in emerging managers.

“With The Axis Fund, we are combining our fund-of-funds investing track record along with our Seed track record under one fund umbrella to generate the best risk-adjusted return for our LPs.”

Omar Darwazah, also general partner and managing director, described the model as both broad and selective: “Our two-pronged investing strategy allows our LPs to access a beta product, through the indexing of emerging managers, and an alpha product, through the picking of companies to back at the early stage.

“This strategy allows us to identify signal from noise and increase our probability of backing outliers – fund returners, 10x cash-on-cash returning companies and Seed to Unicorn investments.”

AAF’s model has earned it deep trust among partners and founders alike. Suzanne Fletcher, founder and general partner of Zelda Ventures, commended the firm’s hands-on partnership style:

“The AAF team has been an exceptional partner to Zelda Ventures, both as an investor in the firm’s Fund 1 and as a collaborative co-investor. They not only supported us early but have also continued to engage meaningfully, from investing alongside us in Okahu to flagging opportunities like Originalis.

“AAF’s approach of backing managers and then investing alongside them truly delivers on their mission to build enduring partnerships.”

Similarly, Zaid Rahman, founder and CEO of Flex, noted AAF’s long-term engagement:

“AAF has been an exceptional partner to us. They began building a relationship with me and the company nearly two years before investing. Flex was originally sourced through their LP check in 305 Ventures, and since then, AAF has participated in our Series A and every subsequent financing round.

“We’re excited to continue working with them as both capital formation and business development partners, leveraging their global LP network and deep connectivity across the MENA region.”

AAF’s earlier funds, a $25 million Fund I (2017), a $39 million Fund II (2021), and a $32 million proprietary fund-of-funds vehicle, have always ranked in the top decile for Net TVPI compared with benchmarks from Cambridge Associates and Carta.

With The Axis Fund focused on early-stage startups, AAF is doubling down on its core belief that access and insight drive performance in private markets. Its blend of fund-of-funds and direct investment strategies will support early-stage capital deployment, encompassing patience, information depth, and genuine partnership.

The post AAF Raises $55 Million to Back Early-Stage Startups, Emerging Fund Managers appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The round was led by Foundation Capital, with additional backing from Gaia Ventures and Boldcap, alongside high-profile angel investors including Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity; Tien Tzuo, CEO of Zuora; and finance leaders from Ramp, Gusto, Opendoor, MongoDB, and the Big Four.

The funding arrives at a time when leaders in finance departments are expected to guide strategy, but much of their time is consumed by reconciliations, fragmented systems, and spreadsheet corrections. 

The challenge is compounded by a shrinking talent pipeline, analysts warn that three-quarters of accountants are on track to retire by 2030, with fewer graduates entering the profession. This shortage raises the risk of errors, delayed audits, and heavier workloads for those left in the field.

Maximor’s solution centres on AI-driven finance agents that plug into systems such as ERPs, payroll, banks, and billing platforms. According to the company, the agents take over repetitive accounting processes while producing audit-ready outputs by default. Customers report measurable results: around 40 per cent more team capacity, faster closes, and smoother audits.

Proptech company Rently, which operates across three countries, cut its month-end close time from eight days to four within its first month of using Maximor. The company also avoided two additional hires by automating repetitive accounting work. 

Similarly, registered investment advisor Invst, with assets under management in the billions, used Maximor to automate reconciliations, allocations, and reporting, gaining profitability insights that were previously impractical.

“Finance should be the growth engine of a company, not a cost centre,” said Ramnandan Krishnamurthy, CEO and co-founder of Maximor. “Capital is how decisions are made. Our job is to automate the mechanics and unify the data so finance leaders can spend time guiding the business. We measure success by customer outcomes, not seats purchased.”

The startup was co-founded by Krishnamurthy and Ajay Krishna Amudan, who both worked at Microsoft’s digital transformation group. Their experience with large corporate finance teams exposed the limitations of existing tools, where millions spent on ERPs often failed to eliminate the reliance on manual spreadsheets.

For investors, Maximor represents a way to modernise a space long criticised for inefficiency. Ashu Garg, General Partner at Foundation Capital, said: “What attracted us to Maximor is their seamless integration to any ERP system. Instead of chasing features like many ERP startups, Maximor uses AI to tackle real challenges faced by finance leaders at global companies. Unlike solutions with disconnected AI tools, Maximor has built a unified platform where specialised AI agents work together seamlessly. For mid-market and enterprise finance teams, it bridges the gap between their current systems and advanced AI, enabling meaningful transformation without disruption.”

Customers are already reiterating this. Dustin Neal, CFO at Rently, said: “Finance should be a growth catalyst, not a bottleneck. With Maximor, our team delivers reliable, audit-ready outputs efficiently while freeing up nearly 50% of our capacity for strategic work. I’m excited about the doors this opens for our business—and energised to partner with a team that’s both world-class and customer-focused.”

Maximor describes its approach as a “financial command centre”, integrating ERPs like NetSuite and Intacct, payroll systems, banks, CRMs, and SaaS tools into one reconciled source of truth. Built on its proprietary Audit-Ready Agent architecture, the platform automatically generates workpapers, reviewer notes, and audit trails. The company argues this ensures compliance and transparency while reducing risk.

Maximor plans to extend automation across more accounting workflows, release industry-specific modules, and build advanced forecasting tools to support scenario planning. Its long-term goal is clear: to give mid-market and enterprise companies an “always-on, audit-ready AI-powered finance team.”

The post Maximor Raises $9m to Ease Finance Teams’ Workload with Automation appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The round was led by Abu Dhabi’s Magna Investments, backed by a group of more than 20 angel investors drawn from the technology and education sectors across multiple countries. 

The capital injection will be used to expand the company’s reach and to fund research and development of its flagship product, Edu AI.

Founded in 2022, Edumentors has already made a name for itself in the crowded online education space by matching children with student-tutors from leading universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. 

The approach, built on mentorship rather than just instruction, has resonated strongly with parents, 98% of whom reported measurable improvements in their children’s performance. 

The company says it has facilitated more than 100,000 lessons across 35 countries, generating $3 million in revenue to date.

The next step for the company includes Edu AI, designed to go beyond pre-recorded lessons or simplistic avatars.

The platform will replicate live tutoring sessions by interpreting facial expressions, recognising body language, and responding to non-verbal cues in real time. It will also feature interactive whiteboards, personalised notes, and live progress tracking.

“Every student deserves a world-class education, regardless of location or background,” said Tornike Asatiani, founder and chief executive of Edumentors. “With Edu AI, we’re opening doors for hundreds of millions of learners to access instruction once reserved for a privileged few.”

Edumentors has already rolled out three AI-driven tools, including an exam-marking assistant, an AI-based parent influencer, and a tutor training module, laying the groundwork for its flagship product. Future developments will include an AI “co-pilot” to complement the main tutoring platform.

The potential market is huge. The global online tutoring industry is forecast to reach $27 billion, with artificial intelligence expected to push adoption and growth even further. Edumentors is eyeing expansion into the United States as part of its next phase of growth.

“By combining proven human tutoring with breakthrough AI capabilities, Edumentors has the opportunity to redefine education at scale,” said investor Richard Hargreaves. “It’s a model built for both impact and growth.”

With this new funding round, the company is betting on technology to make education more accessible and personal, something that has long been considered the preserve of private tutoring.

The post Edumentors Raises $2 Million to Build World’s First Human-Like AI Tutor appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Yet many manufacturers remain stuck with outdated ERP systems that were never built for their pace or precision. Bonx, a French startup building operational software for European industry, is changing that. 

Today, the company announced an $8.6 million seed round led by 9900 Capital, with participation from Kima Ventures, Purple, OSS Ventures, and Dynamo Ventures.

Founded in 2022 by Alexandre Barroux and Rémi Beges within OSS Ventures, Bonx is a modern ERP platform purpose-built for manufacturing. 

By combining no-code configuration, advanced AI capabilities and rapid deployment, the company enables mid-market manufacturers to digitise operations in weeks, not years. 

Bonx integrates seamlessly into existing environments, offering visibility and control across production, logistics, procurement, and quality, without replacing core finance or CRM systems. 

The platform is already being used by a growing number of French, Italian and Spanish manufacturers, including suppliers to Décathlon and emerging brands like French Bloom.

“Our mission remains clear: empower manufacturers to simplify and take control of their operations through technology that adapts to their precise needs,” said Alexandre Barroux, CEO of Bonx. 

“This funding propels us into our next phase – becoming Europe’s definitive ERP leader for mid-sized manufacturers, expanding our successful model from France into new key markets, while scaling in Italy and Spain.”

Unlike traditional ERP deployments, which often drag on for months or years and require expensive consultants, Bonx is designed to go live fast and evolve with the shop floor. 

Customers report full rollouts in as little as three to ten weeks, along with measurable improvements in traceability, purchasing workflows, and inventory coordination. 

The software’s modular, visual interface makes it intuitive for operators and supply chain teams – not just IT departments – and its adaptability means factories can shape the system to fit their actual processes, not the other way around.

The urgency is real. Across France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, mid-sized manufacturers are facing growing technical and operational complexity. Shifting regulations, fragmented supplier networks, and ambitious sustainability targets are all increasing the pressure to modernise. 

Yet many of the ERP platforms still in use across Europe were built for a different era – rigid, opaque, and unable to keep up with evolving demands. Even basic changes to workflows often require custom development. 

As a result, too many industrial teams are still managing high-stakes operations in spreadsheets, or locked into systems that were never designed for speed or interoperability.

Bonx steps into this gap with a platform built precisely for the complexity of modern European industry, allowing manufacturers to gain operational clarity fast without ripping out existing systems. 

Their company reflects a broader shift in how Europe’s industrial backbone is being rebuilt – not just with machines, but with software that understands how production actually runs.

“By focusing exclusively on manufacturing and supply-chain operations, we’ve built Bonx to integrate effortlessly with existing tools, particularly general ledgers and CRM solutions that our customers already rely on and love,” said Rémi Beges, CTO of Bonx. 

“Manufacturers don’t have to replace the systems they’re accustomed to; Bonx complements and enhances their stack and acts as their operational backbone.”

Investor appetite mirrors the urgency playing out on factory floors. “Bonx is redefining the ERP landscape by combining extraordinary implementation speeds with genuinely impactful AI-driven capabilities, driving enormous efficiencies within an industry plagued by legacy software,” commented Juliette Sylvain, Principal at 9900 Capital.

“We are excited to support Bonx as it sets a new industry standard and scales across Europe.”

With this new funding, Bonx will grow its team, deepen its product, and scale in Italy and Spain, two of Europe’s most important manufacturing economies, where Bonx is already present. 

The company sees clear demand for fast, modern ERP solutions that respect the way factories already work, while unlocking smarter, more connected operations. 

Over time, Bonx aims to become the foundational layer for industrial execution across the continent, offering a new kind of digital infrastructure that scales with production, not against it.

The post Bonx Raises $8.6M to Modernise European Manufacturing with AI-Powered ERP appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The investment was led by Accion Venture Lab, with strong participation from existing investors Zrosk, Chui Ventures, and Zedcrest Capital.

Founded in 2020 in Nigeria, PaidHR has rapidly expanded to reach Pan-African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and tech startups across Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. 

The majority of PaidHR’s users are logistics, retail, and manufacturing businesses with under 200 employees, whose reliance on manual, time-consuming processes has created inefficiencies and compliance challenges. 

PaidHR’s all-in-one platform enables businesses to scale efficiently and improve employee wellbeing by formalizing HR administration, automating both local and cross-border payroll, ensuring full regulatory compliance, and providing tailored financial services to employees.

By 2030, half of all new entrants into the global labor force will come from sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, 44 million SMEs provide an estimated 80% of jobs across the continent; however, these businesses are often informal and unable to provide HR and financial services to their employees. 

In Nigeria, 83% of the workforce lacks access to credit and cannot meet emergency and basic needs.

PaidHR aims to improve financial inclusion and promote economic resilience for Africa’s growing workforce. Through earned wage access (EWA), employees on PaidHR’s platform can access a portion of their salary before payday, helping to reduce reliance on predatory loans and alleviate financial stress. 

PaidHR’s integrated multi-currency wallet allows employees to receive payments and save in both local currency and USD, helping them navigate financial instability.

The platform also leverages payroll data to connect employees to other financial products, such as credit and savings plans, through partnerships with financial service providers.

“We are building HR management for the African context, and this funding allows us to scale our vision, expand our reach, and deliver even more value to our clients,” said Seye Bandele, CEO of PaidHR. 

“With the support of Accion Venture Lab and our returning investors, we are well- positioned to help small businesses grow and scale more effectively across borders.”

Amee Parbhoo, managing partner at Accion Venture Lab, commented: “PaidHR’s integrated platform is tackling deep-rooted structural challenges faced by small businesses and their employees in underserved markets, starting in Nigeria. 

“By combining human resources automation with embedded financial services like earned wage access and USD savings, the platform not only improves how businesses operate, but seeks to deliver meaningful financial inclusion for workers.

“We are proud to support the team as they deliver scalable, cost-effective solutions that help strengthen small businesses and enable employees to take control of their financial lives.”

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