👨🏻‍💻 Brass acquired by Paystack-led consortium | 🎮 + free games on YouTube

Today’s Menu ☕️

👨🏻‍💻 Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass; changes leadership team
🤖 Apple has signed a deal with OpenAI to provide chatbot functionality in iOS 18
🎮 YouTube Launches 'Playables' with Over 75 Games Available to Users
📱TikTok Launches Management Platform for Creators
🐶 Nine early-stage startupFrres selected to benefit from the Spark Accelerator Program

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👨🏻‍💻 FINTECH

Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass; changes leadership team

Brass, a Nigerian startup that provides tailored financial solutions to SMEs, has been acquired by a Paystack-led consortium with participation from PiggyVest, Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, and angel investors Oo Nwoye and Olumide Soyombo.

Launched in July 2020 by Sola Akindolu and Emmanuel Okeke, Brass equips SMEs with a full-stack, commercial-grade banking service across various business classes, enabling them to gain greater clarity and control over their money operations and the power to scale their enterprises........continue reading

🤖ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Apple has signed a deal with OpenAI to provide chatbot functionality in iOS 18

Apple has entered into an agreement with OpenAI to integrate chatbot functionality into iOS 18. This partnership will be highlighted at Apple's WWDC event in June. The collaboration will enable Apple to advance its own chatbot development, similar to how it initially utilized Google Maps before launching its own Apple Maps. Additionally, Apple is negotiating with Google to potentially offer Google's Gemini as an alternative option..........continue reading

🎮 GAMING

YouTube Launches 'Playables' with Over 75 Games Available to Users

YouTube is rolling out “Playables”, a collection of free games you can play directly on the platform. In the last couple of months, a limited number of users in select markets have been testing Playables. The games include lightweight, entertaining games like Angry Birds Showdown, Words of Wonders, Cut the Rope, Tomb of the Mask, and Trivia Crack

You’ll soon start to see them on your YouTube app. Here is how you can find them:

1. Head to the main YouTube Home page, either on desktop or the iOS and Android app and find Playables from the Explore menu.

2. Choose from 75+ games and jump right in! You can even share the game with friends by tapping the three-dot more menu...........continue reading

📱SOCIAL MEDIA

TikTok Launches Management Platform for Creators

TikTok has launched a new dashboard where creators will be able to manage all aspects of their TikTok presence, including video uploads, editing, performance analytics, and more.

Called TikTok Studio, the new platform is an updated version of its Creator Center platform, which enables creators to manage their TikTok presence on desktop...........continue reading

 🏅STARTUPS

Nine early-stage startups selected to benefit from the Spark Accelerator Program

Safaricom in partnership with M-PESA Africa and Sumitomo Corporation has shortlisted nine startups to benefit from the Spark Accelerator Program, a platform for bold and visionary founders to grow and scale their businesses.

The recipient startups were identified following a call for applications across different categories, which included Embedded Finance, Future Fintech, SME Productivity Tools and Content. By providing a blend of training, mentorship, and go-to-market support, the Spark Accelerator is taking an ecosystem-based approach to provide the startups with access to markets, access to technology, product development support and access to capital..........continue reading

OTHER STORIES

• Google scrambles to manually remove weird AI answers in search. Social media is abuzz with examples of Google’s new AI Overview product saying weird stuff, from telling users to put glue on their pizza to suggesting they eat rocks. …..read more