The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) was the fastest growing crypto market in 2022, according to a new report by Chainalysis. Users in the region transacted $566 billion in cryptocurrency between July 2021 and June 2022, up 48% from a year earlier, the report found. In comparison, crypto transactions rose 40% in Latin America, 36% in North America, and 35% in Central and Southern Asia. Other regions saw growth of 22% or less. For the report, Chainalysis conducted interviews in countries to cast what it described as a “really wide net” and talked to regulators, private businesses, OTC broker ..read more

Ethereum layer-two scaling platform Polygon raised $450 million earlier this year in its first major financing round. Now, the protocol’s co-founder Sandeep Nailwal is launching another project, he told TechCrunch exclusively — this time, in the form of Symbolic Capital, a venture capital fund built by and for web3 founders. Nailwal, alongside Cere co-founder Kenzi Wang, has raised $50 million from investors including other venture firms, crypto exchanges, family offices and institutions, though they did not share specific names. Symbolic plans to primarily back companies building consumer-fac ..read more

Seedstars’ portfolio founders Since its launch nine years ago, Seedstars has invested in 81 companies in over 30 emerging countries. Now it’s set a goal of investing in 100 more startups with the launch of its second emerging market seed-stage fund, called Seedstars International Ventures II (SIV), with a first close of $20 million. The fund is expected to total $30 million and its limited partners include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Visa Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and Symbiotics. The firm’s is to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups in Asia, Africa, the Mi ..read more

Agricultural microinsurance startup IBISA announced that it has raised a seed round of €1.5 million – approximately $1.70 million. The round was led by London-based specialized investor Insurtech Gateway, with participation from Rockstart’s AgriFood fund and others. Microinsurance typically refers to offering coverage to low-income people against a specific class of risks. In IBISA’s case, these are small farmers whose livelihoods might be affected by adverse climate events, which are unfortunately on the rise. While based in Luxembourg, the startup is focused on emerging markets, with a partn ..read more

In emerging economies, where spending billions to build public transit infrastructure can be out of reach, startups are using technology to meet the mobility needs of a rising urban middle class. Swvl, Treepz, Jatri, SafeBoda, Urbvan, Chalo and Buser are just a few of the startups that have popped up in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America in recent years, all with a focus on providing on-demand access to transportation. Not only are these startups products of the emerging markets, but because mobility is so essential to a thriving economy, they’re actually driving development ..read more

Emerging markets fintech financier Lendable is targeting to raise a $100 million fund to invest in African and Asian fintech companies, the firm said in an emailed statement today. In March, the firm said it planned to raise funds between $120 million to $180 million to give new loans to fintechs so they could then provide credit, asset finance, payments and remittances to individual customers and businesses in emerging markets. It is unclear if the fund announced today continues that discussion as there’s no reference in this recent statement. But what is clear is Lendable stating that t ..read more

VertoFX, a global B2B payments platform that allows small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to make payments to their suppliers, today announced that it has closed $10 million in Series A funding. Quona Capital, an emerging fintech-focused venture capital firm, led the round. Other firms also participated, including The Treasury, founded by Betterment’s Eli Broverman and Acorns’ Jeff Cruttenden; Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP); U.K.-based TMT Investments; Unicorn Growth Capital; Zrosk Investments; and P1 Ventures.  The lack of interoperability between African currencies is primarily ..read more

Millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa and emerging markets continue to live without access to electricity. Some reports peg these numbers between 500 million and 2 billion people despite the prevalence of renewable energy providers in these regions. Zola Electric, one such provider, is announcing today that it has closed $90 million in new funding to enter new markets and drive distributed renewable energy. When Zola Electric was launched in 2011 by Erica Mackey, Xavier Helgesen and Joshua Pierce, the company provided solar home solutions to off-grid rural communities in Tanzania. The compa ..read more

Remittances — specifically when people in developed countries send money to family or friends in emerging markets — continues to be a huge lever to help those in more challenging economies survive and improve their lot. Today, a startup that has built a remittance platform that it believes is the most economically sympathetic and useful to the people who use those services the most is announcing some funding to continue growing. Taptap Send, which provides a “free” mobile money transfer service from eight countries to 15 others, has raised $13.4 million, money that it will be using to continue ..read more

Cazoo is picking up significant capital today by teaming up with a SPAC in the U.S. at a $7 billion valuation, but another big used-car play is consolidating operations. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Berlin-based Frontier Car Group, which builds used-car marketplaces with a focus on emerging markets, is shutting down its operations in the city. The move will see 100 jobs transferred from Berlin to India, the company said. Its majority owner OLX Group, a division of Prosus (the tech holdings of Naspers that is now listed as a separate entity), said that it wants to refocus on m ..read more