Author: Editor-In-Chief
When e-commerce company Jumia wanted to go public in 2019, Africa’s most famous startup did not list in Lagos, Nairobi, Kigali or Johannesburg. I went to New York instead. This says it all about Africa’s startup problem. It’s not about money. It’s an exit issue.African entrepreneurs can build world-class businesses, but investors are hesitant because they don’t know when or how they will get their money back. Initial public offerings (IPOs) remain extremely rare, and most exits occur in the form of trade sales, which are often unpredictable and slow to liquidate. Our stock exchanges also offer little reassurance, as…
Google Maps is adding new AI features such as Builder Agent and MCP Server (a tool that connects the AI Assistant to Google Maps technical documentation) to help developers and users create interactive projects using Maps data and code. The company said it is using Gemini models across the board to enhance these features. Among these new tools, Builder Agent is a tool that, like many other coding tools, allows you to write a text description of the type of interactive map-based prototype you want to build and then create it. For example, you can type “Create a street view…
instacart The company posted its highest third-quarter revenue and announced a positive outlook under new CEO Chris Rogers.Inventories on grocery delivery platforms were flat.Here’s how the company performed against LSEG’s estimates:Earnings per share: 51 cents adjusted vs. 49 cents expected Earnings: $939 million vs. $934 million expectedSales increased 10% from $852 million in the same period last year. Total transaction value, which measures the value of goods sold, rose 10% to $9.17 billion from $8.3 billion a year earlier, beating FactSet’s forecast of $9.11 billion.In his first letter to shareholders as CEO, Rogers said Instacart is focused on strengthening affordability…
Thomas Fuller | SOPA Images | Light Rocket | Getty ImagesThe private technology market is hotter than ever, with valuations for companies like OpenAI, SpaceX, Anthropic, and Stripe rising to astronomical levels.PitchBook, one of the top providers of data about startups, wants to give users easy access to information about these companies and many others. On Monday, Pitchbook introduced an artificial intelligence-powered tool that provides market insights based on user prompts.Rather than having to find a company’s profile page and search for specific information, subscribers can ask questions of an AI assistant called PitchBook Navigator to get facts and figures…
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) speaks during a press conference on the 41st day of the federal government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on November 10, 2025. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty ImagesHouse Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday called on members of Congress to begin traveling to Washington, D.C., so that they can vote as soon as possible on the Senate agreement that would end the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.Johnson, R-Louisiana, spoke to reporters a day after the Senate narrowly approved the first phase of a deal to reopen government offices for…
The head of Britain’s British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and a top news executive resigned from the organization on Sunday after a memo criticizing the editing of US President Donald Trump’s 2021 speech was leaked shortly before protesters stormed the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.The BBC said its director-general Tim Davie and news CEO Deborah Turness had chosen to resign after the memo was published.The memo comes from former adviser Michael Prescott, a former journalist who served as an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board for three years before resigning in June. He claimed…
Hong Kong — A Chinese coffee chain has apologized and changed its name after state media promoted it as misusing a word respected by China’s Communist government. People’s Cafe is decorated mostly in bright red, often with stars painted on its storefronts, reminiscent of the Chinese Communist Party’s aesthetic. It also uses a typeface inspired by the calligraphy of China’s first communist leader, Mao Zedong. The company apologized on Saturday, days after state media named it as participating in a “contraption economy.” As in many officially communist states, the term “people” (“people” in Mandarin) is used liberally and seriously by…
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has explained why Virgil van Dijk’s header against Manchester City was not recognized as a “clear mistake”, but Jay Bothroyd believes Liverpool’s goal should have stood. Read the latest from Ref Watch…Man City 3-0 LiverpoolIncident: Virgil van Dijk’s header against Manchester City was ruled out after Andy Robertson was ruled to have blocked the goalkeeper’s line of sight from an offside position. Dermot said: “This is definitely subjective and a gray area as it’s all about interpretation.”Everyone sees things a little differently, so you can take what happened last year or earlier this season…
Today, the United States marks the 41st day of a federal government shutdown that has left federal workers without pay, air travel suspended, and millions of poor Americans without food assistance.To be sure, this is not the first time that the government of the world’s reigning superpower has intentionally shut down, but the current shutdown recently set the dubious record of being the longest in modern U.S. history.And this time, the political spectacle is beyond dystopian.In other words, the government shutdown came as a result of budget disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over strict health care cuts supported by President…
For many people, reaching out to strangers can be a daunting prospect, but Carly Valancy has a “really special love” for networking, she says.Valancy, 30, has had an extensive career. Before co-founding Momentum Growth, a growth consulting firm for female founders, she worked in technology, theater, and marketing.Through each professional axis, she says networking has been the key to her success.When Valancey faced a career crossroads in her early 20s, she challenged herself to contact one new person every day for 100 days, an idea inspired by Molly Beck’s networking strategy book, Reach Out.The experience “completely changed my life,” she…