💰Carrot Credit Raises $4.2m to Redefine Lending

Today’s Menu ☕️

💰Carrot Credit Raises $4.2m to Redefine Lending with Digital Assets in Africa
🩺 Gates Foundation Awards $5m Grant to Axmed to Boost Access to Lifesaving Medicines in Africa
🎤 Google Meet Gets Smarter with Real-Time Voice Translation
🤖 Llama, Meta’s open source collection of AI models, just hit 1 billion downloads
🤖 Google Unveils Veo 3 as a Game Changing AI Model for Realistic Video and Audio Generation

If you haven't subscribed, join over 7,000 people curious about Innovation, New Products, New Technologies in Africa.

💰INVESTMENTS

Carrot Credit Raises $4.2m to Redefine Lending with Digital Assets in Africa

Carrot Credit, a Nigerian fintech startup, has raised $4.2 million in seed funding to scale its asset-backed lending platform across the continent. The round, led by MaC Venture Capital with backing from Authentic Ventures, will support product development, team expansion, and deeper integrations with digital investment platforms.

Founded in 2023 by Boluwatife Aiki-Raji, Carrot Credit is tackling a critical gap in the African credit market: access to fair and flexible loans for individuals with digital investment assets. Unlike traditional lenders that require income statements or rely on credit scores, Carrot allows users to leverage their investment portfolios—such as stocks, bonds, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies—as collateral to access affordable credit without having to liquidate their holdings.

Carrot has already processed over $2 million in loans and served more than 10,000 users, many of whom are digitally-savvy young investors. The company’s below-market interest rates and flexible terms position it as a distinct player among Nigerian digital lenders, such as FairMoney, Carbon, Aella Credit, and Sycamore, which typically offer short-term loans based on income or credit history....……continue reading

 TRAINING FROM TENTH CODE

Elevate Your Leadership: Join Our Executive Project Management Training

In today's dynamic business environment, effective project management is crucial for organizational success. Tenth Code Media invites you to its intensive 2-day training designed specifically for corporate leaders, executives, and decision-makers.

Training Details:

Date: June 5-6, 2025
Venue: Canton Concourse, 12 Land Bridge Avenue, Off Palace Rd, Oniru Estate, Lagos, Nigeria
Investment: N225,000 (exclusive of VAT)
Includes: Course materials, lunch, refreshments, and a certificate of completion

Who Should Attend:

Corporate Executives, Sponsors, Stakeholders, Executive Committee Members, Senior Managers, and Directors with at least 3 years of executive experience.

Reserve Your Spot Today! Click this link to register now: https://bit.ly/TCPME0125

🩺 HEALTHCARE

Gates Foundation Awards $5m Grant to Axmed to Boost Access to Lifesaving Medicines in Africa

The Gates Foundation is giving a major boost to maternal and child health in Sub-Saharan Africa with a $5 million grant to Axmed, a healthcare technology company transforming medicine access in emerging markets. The grant will be deployed as a 1:1 matching fund, helping governments procure critical maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) commodities more efficiently and affordably.

Announced during a high-level roundtable at the 78th World Health Assembly, the initiative aims to unlock up to $10 million in MNCH procurements by incentivizing Ministries of Health to participate in pooled purchasing through the Axmed Medicines Platform....…..…continue reading

🎤 MEDIA

Google Meet Gets Smarter with Real-Time Voice Translation

At its annual Google I/O 2025 event, Google unveiled one of its most exciting updates yet for global communication: real-time speech translation in Google Meet. Now available in beta for Google One AI Pro subscribers, this feature enables natural, free-flowing multilingual conversations during video calls—with voices, tones, and expressions preserved in the translated audio.

This breakthrough leverages an advanced audio language model developed by Google DeepMind, which translates spoken words into the listener’s chosen language as they’re being said. The translated speech plays over the original voice, which is still faintly audible to maintain context and tone. Imagine hearing someone speak Spanish while their translated English voice, still capturing their intonation and emotion, is layered seamlessly on top.

The tool is designed to make multilingual conversations smoother and more accessible in real time. Currently, it supports English and Spanish, with additional languages like Italian, German, and Portuguese expected in the coming weeks. Google emphasized that this feature is especially useful for personal and professional communication alike—from grandchildren chatting with non-English-speaking grandparents to cross-border teams collaborating without language barriers..…..…continue reading

🤖 TECHNOLOGY

Meta’s Llama AI Models Hit 1 Billion Downloads—Here’s Why It Matters

In a major milestone for the open-source AI community, Meta’s Llama—a family of large language models (LLMs)—has surpassed 1 billion downloads, marking a significant step toward democratizing access to powerful artificial intelligence tools. Since its initial release in 2023, Llama (short for Large Language Model Meta AI) has become a cornerstone of innovation across industries, academic institutions, and startups alike.

This achievement is more than a download count—it’s a validation of Meta’s vision to make AI development transparent, customizable, and accessible. The growth of Llama demonstrates how open-source AI models can drive widespread adoption, fuel creativity, and accelerate breakthroughs in diverse fields.…..…continue reading

🤖 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Google Unveils Veo 3 as a Game Changing AI Model for Realistic Video and Audio Generation

At its 2025 I/O Developer Conference, Google unveiled Veo 3, the most advanced version of its generative video model developed by DeepMind. Veo 3 is more than just an evolution of AI video creation—it’s a bold reimagination of how content can be generated using artificial intelligence. By seamlessly merging high-fidelity visuals with synchronized audio, Veo 3 pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in automated storytelling and production.

While previous models focused primarily on generating short, silent clips, Veo 3 introduces a powerful suite of features that place it firmly in the league of full-spectrum content creation tools. At its core, Veo 3 is a text-to-video and image-to-video model that can produce rich, coherent video scenes from simple prompts.

Its new capabilities include:

• Lip-synced character dialogue

• Ambient noise such as wind or crowd chatter

• Context-aware soundtracks and sound effects that match the generated scene

These enhancements allow content creators, educators, marketers, and filmmakers to prototype or even produce high-impact video content quickly, without needing full-scale production crews...…..…continue reading

Do you know you can join and follow us on our WhatsApp Channel?