Author: Akin Naphtal

The race is on for auto-manufacturing companies to become the first ones to develop and implement a high level of autonomy in their cars. Mercedes seems to have won a crucial race against Tesla recently by becoming the first certified Level-3 autonomous car company in the United States. The feature is currently only available in the latest S-Class and EQS Sedan which are currently in production and should reach the Vegas strip by the third quarter of this year. READ ALSO: TelcoSwitch Appoints Matt Mansell as New CEO Faurecia-Aptoide Partners Catappult in New launch of World First apps distribution hub…

Global Processing Services (“GPS”), a fast-growing next-gen global payments technology platform, has announced the appointment of Jim McCarthy as Executive Vice President – Global Head of Sales and Product, and Kevin Fox as the company’s new Chief Revenue Officer. According to a press release obtained by Digital Economy Mag, Jim will lead GPS’ global commercial and product teams in close collaboration with Kevin on sales acceleration. Jim is a highly accomplished payments veteran with over 30 years of experience, including 18 years at Visa where he held senior roles in sales, risk and authentication, consumer credit, digital products and product…

In an open letter to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, experienced technology executives have said the creation of a UK semiconductor strategy is a matter of urgency. The signatories on the letter from an organization called Tech London Advocates include Hermann Hauser, of Amadeus Capital Partners; Jalal Bagherli, former CEO, Dialog Semiconductor; Janet Collyer, who spent 30 years with Cadence Design Systems; Jillian Hughes, Network Director at the National Microelectronics Institute The letter reads: “The technology and manufacturing sectors have been waiting more than two years for the promised strategy, and confidence in the Government’s ability to address this industry’s…

Australia’s leading space research centre, SmartSat CRC has appointed Dr Michele Allan as the new chair. The appointment came after the sudden passing of inaugural Chair Dr Peter Woodgate in December last year. Dr Allan AO is highly experienced and brings a wealth of leadership skills from some of Australia’s key industries. She is currently the Chair of the Boards of Charles Sturt University, the Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre (FIAL), Trusted Autonomous Systems Defence CRC, and Wine Australia. She also holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Technology Sydney, a Master of Management of Technology from…

TelcoSwitch has announced the recent appointment of Matt Mansell as its chief executive officer, who joins the company with immediate effect. Mansell takes over from Russell Lux, who founded the company in 2015 and led the company to an investment from Queen’s Park Equity (QPE) in 2022. He founded Yay.com, a SaaS unified communications business, which was also acquired by QPE last year as part of its long-term strategy for IP investment and development in TelcoSwitch. READ ALSO:Faurecia-Aptoide Partners Catappult in New launch of World First apps distribution hub for cars South African Food e-commerce Startup Yebo Fresh Raises $4.5m…

Faurecia-Aptoide and Catappult have announced they are joining forces to launch an innovative app distribution service for cars. Using Faurecia-Aptoide’s highly regarded app store technology, developers will now be able to distribute their games and apps in cars. Faurecia Aptoide already works with major automotive brands such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. With the new service, available at Catappult, developers can now design and finetune their apps and games for cars, manufacturers will be able to customize their app stores, and users will get access to a wide range of apps and games tailored to their own interests and their…

South African e-commerce startup, Yebo Fresh, an order-to-delivery service providing townships with fresh groceries and food, has raised a ZAR78 million (US$4.5 million) pre-Series A equity investment, as well as a Jobs Fund grant. Launched in 2018 in the garage of founder Jessica Boonstra’s home, Yebo Fresh is an online shopping service for township communities, delivering groceries to areas that are generally unserved by most formal retailers. READ ALSO: Kenyan Fintech Firm JUMO Appoints Joe Mucheru as President European Deep Tech Deals Raised $17.7 Billion in 2022, says Report SITA, Zamna Technologies Partner to Digitise Travel Processes for Airlines, Airports,…

Leading Kenya-based fintech firm JUMO has appointed Joe Mucheru as president of the company.According to a statement, Mucheru will support the company to deliver its growth goals, navigate the regulatory landscape, and build the firm’s presence across Africa. Mucheru served as Kenyan Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, appointed by then President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta. He held office from 2015 to 2022, where-after President William Ruto named Eliud Owalo as the country’s new Cabinet Secretary for ICT. Mucheru joined Google in 2007 where he led the delivery of strategy, business planning and operations and…

The UK has officially its ARIA science research agency with five new board members, heavily weighted towards the life sciences. This comes as the UK government is reported to have received a draft of the semiconductor strategy that has been in preparation for several years. This is also important as political issues have kept UK researchers and companies out of new projects in the EU’s Horizon research programme. The agency, modelled on DARPA in the US, aims to create ‘transformational. research programmes through a budget originally intended to be £800m. The agency has been designed with a unique level of…

Europe’s deep tech startups closed off 2022 having brought in around $17.7 billion, down 22% on the year but still 60% above 2020 trends, according to a new data report. The report, published by Dealroom, Lakestar and Walden Catalyst Ventures, puts forward an argument that, in the second half of last year, European deep tech was the second best performer on a sector-by-sector basis; energy was first. The data is borne out by investor sentiment. An LP survey included in the study cites deep tech as investor’s number two pick for innovation, trailing only societal impact models, or “Planet Positive”…