Innovation Village Newsletter
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10 startups selected for N100m AI fund

10 startups selected for N100m AI fund

Plus: OpenAI launches ChatGPT Search

Innovation Village
November 01, 2024

Today’s Menu ☕️

YC-backed Bamboo expands to Canada with new remittance service
Grid Africa CEO Norman Moyo on Leadership, Renewable Energy, and the Future of Africa
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Search with Real-Time Web Search, Challenging Google and Bing
Meta AI surpasses 500 million users
Telecom Egypt secures $370 million syndicated loan to enhance financial flexibility and cash flow

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💸 REMITTANCE

YC-backed Bamboo expands to Canada with new remittance service

Bamboo Founders

Bamboo, the Y Combinator-backed investment app that enables Africans to buy and trade both local and international stocks, is set to expand its operations to Canada after securing the country’s Money Service Business (MSB) license. In addition to its investment services, Bamboo will introduce a new remittance payment service called Coins by Bamboo. This product aims to facilitate money transfers from the African diaspora back to the continent, offering fee-free transfers and competitive exchange rates to reduce the high costs typically associated with cross-border transactions.

Bamboo’s decision to expand to Canada is strategic. In 2022, Nigeria was the fourth-largest source of immigrants to Canada, with 22,085 Nigerians moving to the country. Bassey noted, “Based on insights, one of the countries our users have emigrated to the most is Canada, with the UK being at the top of the list. This means there is significant potential for our app in Canada before we expand to the UK and other markets.”....……continue reading

INNOVATION & LEADERSHIP SERIES

Grid Africa CEO Norman Moyo on Leadership, Renewable Energy, and the Future of Africa

This episode of the “Innovation and Leadership Series” features Norman Moyo, CEO of Grid Africa, who shares his unique journey from banking, through telecommunications to renewable energy. His story embodies pan-African leadership, dedication to lifelong learning, and a vision for a brighter future for the continent.

Click the link to watch.

💵 INVESTMENTS

Egypt’s Raya Foods secures $40 million investment from Helios Investment Partners

Egyptian firm Raya Foods has secured a significant $40 million investment from Helios Investment Partners. Through this deal, Helios will acquire a 49% stake in Raya Foods, demonstrating strong confidence in the company’s potential to expand its manufacturing and export capabilities on a global scale.

Raya Foods, Egypt’s second-largest exporter of frozen fruits and vegetables, currently exports to over 50 countries, with a robust presence in Europe and the Americas. The company aims to become the leading exporter of frozen goods in the Egyptian market and the first in Egypt to manufacture and export freeze-dried fruits and vegetables..........continue reading

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🔍 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Search with Real-Time Web Search, Challenging Google and Bing

OpenAI has launched an advanced web-integrated search feature, ChatGPT Search, embedded directly in its ChatGPT platform. This new feature was unveiled in July this year. Building on the capabilities of the prior SearchGPT prototype, ChatGPT Search now offers “timely answers” using a refined GPT-4 model to pull information from a broad array of sources, including breaking news, sports, and financial data.

Notably, users can now initiate searches directly or let ChatGPT determine when to search, with responses featuring both in-line and sidebar attribution to sources. This new feature is currently available for ChatGPT Plus and Team users and will expand to enterprise and free-tier users in the coming months..…….continue reading

📱SOCIAL MEDIA

Meta AI surpasses 500 million users

Last month at Meta Connect, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta AI was “on track” to become the most-used generative AI assistant in the world. The company has now achieved a significant milestone toward that goal, with Meta AI surpassing the 500 million user mark, as revealed by Zuckerberg during the company’s latest earnings call.

Reaching the half-billion user milestone comes just a year after the social network first launched its AI assistant last fall. Zuckerberg reiterated the company’s expectation to become the “most-used” assistant by the end of 2024, although he has not specified the exact metrics by which this will be measured. Meta’s AI assistant is not the only tool contributing to the company’s growth..…….continue reading