This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today
1.Sport queen, Serena Williams leads $3.3 million seed in Nigerian startup, Stears
A Nigerian data and intelligence company, Stears, has announced securing a $3.3M seed round led by Mac VC and Serena Ventures, the VC company of world-class athlete, businesswoman, and philanthropist, Serena Williams.
Preston Ideh, corporate lawyer and cofounder, disclosed the new funding in a media release on Tuesday.
Omidyar Group’s Luminate Fund, Melo 7 Tech Partners, and Cascador (Empowering Economic Growth Foundation)also participated in the funding.
The new funding follows closely two years after Stears raised $650,000 in pre-seed funding.
“We have a strong understanding of the kind of information people need.
“So our focus is on standardizing information dissemination and building with the customer in mind,” Ideh said of the new funding.
The round adds to the number of startups funded by sport queen, Serena Williams, who began actively investing nine years ago when she saw the impact that startups had on everyday lives.
Since 2014, when it launched, Serena Ventures —under the leadership of Serena Williams and partner, Allison Rapaport— has supported founders whose perspectives and innovations level the playing field for women and people of color.
Serena Ventures’ portfolio startups include Foody, Nestcoin, Esusu, Calico, Chatdesk, fiveable, amongst others.
Tech Trivia:What four letters start the “home row” on a QWERTY keyboard?
A. ASDF
B. UIOP
C. ZXCV
D. HJKL
Answer: see end of post
2. Yardlink secures $17.5m Series A funding round led by Beringea
A UK-based construction equipment marketplace, Yardlink, has announced securing a 17.5m Series A funding round led by Beringea, with participation from Amplifier, and existing investors Speedinvest and FJ Labs.
Read also:Nigerian proptech startup, Spleet secures $2.6 million seed. 2 other stories and a trivia
YardLink CEO, Neeral Shah, confirmed the latest funding on Tuesday in a media statement.
YardLink allows construction companies to obtain critical equipment faster than normal equipment rental companies.
Maria Wagner, Partner at Beringea while commenting on the investment said:
“YardLink has the potential to establish itself as the go-to marketplace for construction supplies.”
“YardLink connects construction customers with their supply chain on a single digital platform,” Shah added.
3. Female-led VC firm, Mindshift Capital, invests in Wellbees’ $2.2 million Seed round
A female-led and focused VC fund, Mindshift Capital has announced its participation in the US employee wellness platform, Wellbees, Seed funding round.
Heather Henyon, Founding Partner of Mindshift Capital confirmed in a press release that it participated in Wellbees’ latest $2.2 million Seed funding round, alongside other VCs including 212, Assist Ventures, Sarus Select Capital, and Doha Tech Angels.
Wellbees is a one-stop-shop tech solution for HR professionals and employees, allowing employees to gain better habits that can impact their lives.
Melis Abacıoğlu launched Wellbees in 2013.
“We are excited to be backing Melis, who is a force of nature, and the team that she has assembled. She has already proven the concept with more than 40 clients in 17 countries,” said Heather
“We are thrilled that Mindshift Capital is joining this round!” said Wellbees CEO and cofounder Melis Abacıoğlu added.
Abacıoğlu said that the funding will allow Wellbees establish a data science team to strengthen the company’s analytics, as well as increase its market share, especially in the UK and MENA markets.
Trivia Answer: ASDF
QWERTY (pronounced “quirty”) is an adjective used to describe standard Western (or Latin-based) keyboards.
If you look at your keyboard, and the first six letters under the numbers are Q-W-E-R-T-Y, then you have a QWERTY keyboard.
By Kayode Hamsat
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