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How to invest in artificial intelligence?

How to invest in artifical intelligence

Investing in artificial intelligence looks promising. A.I. can solve complex problems, but it is itself quite complex for ordinary people to grasp. A broad consensus suggests that it is the next technological and economic revolution, just as machines were for the industrial revolution. A wise investor would certainly want to be part of this adventure! But the average investor doesn’t always have time to immerse himself in the multitude of companies that are making the news about artificial intelligence.  It would also be necessary to deepen the concepts of Machine learning, Deep learning, Computer vision etc… So, how to benefit from the market of artificial intelligence which promises to be gigantic with 4000 billion dollars from 2022? Investing in artificial intelligence companies The Startuppers Club has good news for you, investor friends! Artificial intelligence stars are currently quite well known. They are Google (Alphabet), Microsoft and Amazon! Indeed, each of these companies have important ambitions in the field and are well placed to take the lion’s share. Finally, these stock market values have the advantage of not being too risky because their activity is quite diversified and does not show signs of fatigue, on the contrary! GOOGLE under the NASDAQ code: GOOG Google, now renamed Alphabet to encompass all its services, is at the forefront of AI. We all know about Google Cars and other crazy projects that use artificial intelligence. But in September 2018, Google opened a new fundamental research center in… Paris! Sundar Pichai has inaugurated this new entity by committing to recruit 1000 employees including at least 25% engineers. In addition, we note that Google has made startup shopping its favorite activity, and AI is no exception to this strategy! The purchase of Deep Mind, a British startup specialized in the field, for 628 million dollars can only reinforce the hegemonic position of the Empire. It’s a bit like Alphabet spotting the nuggets in the sector for you and buying them, functioning as an investment fund for you! This value is therefore to be favoured, especially for a neophyte! MICROSOFT under NASDAQ code: MSFT It is no longer a secret that Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, is planning to turn to artificial intelligence. The partnership with INRIA for applied research in AI has been renewed; this alliance will be able to develop patents and create innovations later on. The partnership also focuses on supporting cutting-edge startups in the field. Here again, Microsoft can act as a research head to uncover the best nuggets in the sector. The company has even developed a specialized incubator in Paris: the AI Factory. This incubator is located at Station F (one of the capital’s top 5 incubators and the largest) and complements the Bizsparck programs. If you are also tempted by the association – investors are not just venal creatures – you should know that Microsoft is investing 40 million for humanitarian purposes. Indeed, this sum will be allocated to projects that use artificial intelligence to find the solution to the problems of Humanity! AMAZON under NASDAQ code: AMZN Amazon is our darling at Statuppers Club! The company lives for artificial intelligence. There is no AI department in the company. Every department in the company has an AI component to innovate. Machine learning technology has been used by the product recommendation team to improve the customer experience for a long time! Everyone knows this example. But let’s take Amazon Go stores that don’t even have a checkout. The company has benefited from the wealth of data to track buying trends and customer behavior to refine the strategy. In return, the data gathered from the experiments in the physical stores will enable the learning machine department to make further progress. The virtuous circle for refining intelligence is set in motion! And Jeff Bezos is offering to make his services available via AWS (“Amazon Web Services”), which could eventually give him a leading position in the market. Similarly, the company shares some of Alexa’s artificial intelligence capabilities with other companies such as Liberty Mutual and Capital One. Investing in chip vendors, the NVIDIA alternative approach Rather than or in addition to buying shares in companies developing AI, one may want to buy shares in the company providing the hardware. During the gold rush, shovel salesmen were the first to make a fortune after the gold rush.

Only one week to participate to Startup Battlefield Africa 2018

How to participate to Startup Battlefield Africa 2018

On December 11th, Techcrunch will host one of the best start-up competitions of Africa: Startup Battlefield Africa . The globally recognized competition that is already happening on a regular basis in the USA and in Europe is gaining new destinations. Recently, Techcrunch was waiting for new applicants for the Latin American competition that will take place in Brazil. The Africa version will take place on December 11 in Lagos, Nigeria. Techcrunch wants to take advantage of this competition to give a chance to all innovative startups to enter the competition. The organization has therefore added an extra week to register, promising that this event could change the lives of the winners. Indeed, in addition to a financial prize, just the visibility gained via Techcrunch would be worth attending this event. Advantages of Startup Battlefield Africa Since 2007, more than 750 startups have participated in Techcrunch pitch competitions. And among these candidates we find known startups like Dropbox for example. Overall, start-ups that participated in the organization’s competitions raised $ 8 billion and 102 startups met with success and with big exits. 15 new startups and 15 new CEOs will be promoted at Startup Battlefield Africa. If the probability of success of the startup will not necessarily be higher, the Techcrunch’s competition is still worth it. The main advantage is the media exposure that it can give to startups. An article in this ultraconnected webzine is a very good start for a PR strategy. Indeed, Techcrunch has a very strong authority in the field of startups and innovation in general. Of course, the articles of the site are very read, by investors but also by other bloggers who will in turn be interested in your startup. Finally, participation in this competition is completely free ! You do not take any risks! At the end, a startup will earn the title of “Champion Battlefield Africa 2018 Techcrunch “. The winning startuppers will receive a $ 25,000 grant without a stake. And they will also receive a trip for 2 to San Francisco to compete at the world level. You know what you have to do to become part of the next list of 10 biggest African fundraisings ! Organization of Startup Battlefield Africa 2018 TechCrunch editors will review each and every applications that meet the eligibility criteria below. In the end, they will only choose 10 startups that will be in the competition. Startuppers will receive free coaching from the executives of the Startup Battlefield contest. The day of the competition, the founder will pitch on stage and answer the questions of the jury! Indeed, the teams of startuppers will have 6 minutes to present the pitch of their startup . They will also have to present a demo of their product or service to the jury composed of selected guests. Investors will be present and will be able to challenge the teams. This can be a good start to see what to expect at the first round of fundraising. Finally, after each pitch, the jury will have 6 minutes to ask questions. Startups will come back several times with different juries each time. Criteria for Entering the TechCrunch Contest Here are the 4 eligibility criteria for Startup Battlefield Africa: Be an early-stage startup Have a prototype or a beta that is in production phase Have received limited media coverage so far Do not have litigation on intellectual property * Residents of the following countries can submit their applications: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

China : Didi Chuxing, the local Uber !

Didi Chuxing, the Chinese competitor of Uber

Today, the Startuppers Club presents a Chinese startup: Didi Chuxing! The Chinese equivalent of Uber … Importing an idea from abroad can be a good idea if you understand the specifics of the target market. Travis Kalanick created Uber in 2009, Didi Chuxing released his app 4 years later! The competition was bound to rage for the Chinese market. Launch of Didi Dache on transportation on demand In June 2012, through its company Orange Technology, the startupper Cheng Wei created Didi Dache. It means “Beep beep Call a taxi”. Just 6 months after the launch of the application, in November 2012, the Chinese giant Tencent was investing $ 15 million in this promising local Uber. Indeed, Tencent is the chinese equivalent of Messenger, with some internet services added. When Tencent invested in Didi Dache, Uber was exploding in the United States and the investor hoped to be able to replay his own scenario (the boss of Tencent said that “copying is not bad”). Didi Dache against Kuaidi Dache But Didi Dache is not the only one on this big market! Kuaidi Dache is a serious competitor since Jack Ma, the investor and venture capitalist and his fund “Alibaba Group” backs the startup. Each contestant pay a price war and make the effort to gain market share. In February 2015, Didi Dache holds 55% of the market and Kuaidi Dache the remaining 45%. Each of them had fundraising in Series A, B and C in 2014. The global market is 150 million people which is huge, but the losses also start to be important for both competitors. Didi Dache suffers $ 700 million loss while Kuaidi Dache is around $ 600 million loss. The two rivals decided to merge, but to keep each their management, which could be likened to a practice of unlawful agreement. Didi Chuxing vs Uber As of September 2013, Uber was trying to penetrate the Chinese market. Price competition was raging against Uber, especially in 2015. Uber had taken over 40 cities in China for a valuation of 8 billion dollars. But the losses are massive, around the billion dollar, maybe even 2. The merger allowed Chinese groups to better defend themselves against Uber. And besides the American is financed by Baidu (equivalent of Google in China and giant of the Chinese Internet), Uber China has since been bought by … Didi Chuxing in August 2016! In December 2017, Didi raises $ 4 billion to establish its dominant position in the market and enter new markets like artificial intelligence. The new developments of Didi Chuxing Recently in 2018, Didi Chuxing launched its international expansion with the development of the application in Mexico, Australia and Japan. Also, we find in the projects of the startup ideas about artificial intelligence and autonomous driving of course. An artificial intelligence laboratory opened in Beijing in January 2018. Its goal is to solve transportation issues in China. 200 engineers and data scientists worked on it from the outset. 20 cities are already equipped with the Didi Smart Transportation Brain. This software makes it possible in particular to regulate the duration of the traffic lights and thus to make traffic flow more fluid. But artificial intelligence also serves Didi Chuxing. In China, Didi collects 10 billion trips every year. The developed AI can predict demand 15 minutes before it arrives with 85% accuracy. The launch of the application in Japan is planned for autumn 2018, in partnership with SoftBank. Didi also bought the group 99, which is also focusing on transportation on demand, but in Brazil. Didi Chuxing in Mexico in 2018: Guadalajara and Mexico The Chinese startup launched its app in July 2018 in Mexico! To get a good start, the application was deployed in 2 cities: Guadalajara and Monterrey. Respectively 3rd and 8th largest cities of Mexico, Guadalajara is 5 times less important than Mexico. But the student and international population is very important, less efficient transport can be noticed and competing applications are less advanced. To accelerate its development, Didi Chuxing offers recruited drivers the home navigation system and above all a guaranteed salary of around € 500. Finally Didi Chuxing proposes the lowest commission of the market for the drivers. Let’s see what happens !

10 startups from South America to watch in 2018

10 startups from South America to watch in 2018

The startup environment of South America is exploding and bring new stars to life every year. Even though Argentina and Brazil remain the two giants of technological entrepreneurship, Mexico and Chile are beginning to emerge and produce beautiful startups too. Startuppers Club and Nathan Lustig, co-manager of the venture capital fund Magma Partners that invests in Latin American startups, present the 10 startups that should explode in the coming years: Trocafone, Brazil, Sale of electronic products Founded in 2014, this e-commerce platform buys and sells used electronic equipment, and mainly smartphones (hence the name Troca-Fone). The service offered by Trocafone is quite comprehensive. Indeed, the website buys used laptops, restores them professionally, and finally sells them. Customers of the site are reassured in their purchase of a second-hand laptop and actually earn on the price paid. Vendors enjoy a fast and efficient sales system with pre-addressed envelopes and a sale that only takes a few seconds to set. The fundraising confirms this good activity with already 49M $ raised in 4 years! The last round of funding is from November 2017 for $ 15M. The following funds participated in the fundraising round Sallfort, MIT Castor Ventures Fund, FJ Labs, Rocketship and … the fund of Mercado Libre! Indeed, the latest investment fund is from a heavyweight South American E-commerce sector that we detail just below: MercadoLibre. MercadoLibre, Argentina, South America MercadoLibre is no longer really a startup but rather a scale-up that looks like Amazon in South America. It is probably one of the most famous startups in South America, which today has a valuation of more than 14 billion dollars. In 1999, Hernan Kazah founded the startup that internationalized from 2008. Today it is listed on the Nasdaq and although it does not have the same progress as Amazon, its valuation has been multiplied by 3 in 4 years ! 99, Brazil, Shared Trips 99 is the second most used carpooling platform in Brazil. Its business plan looks like Uber or Lyft ones. The Brazilian startup raised $ 241 millions before being bought back. Indeed, in January 2018, the Chinese startup Didi Chuxing bought 99 for an alleged amount of one billion dollars ($ 1B). CargoX, Brazil, Transportation In 2013, the Frederico Vega former banker startupper in London created CargoX . It’s a little bit the “Uber of trucks” in Brazil. The solution finds you room on trucks where it remains and completes the cargo. The carrier is happy because it optimizes its loading. The customer is also happy since he pays generally less and will be able to access smaller volumes. Finally, data becomes the heart of the business: GPS tags are installed in the cargo and allow to know exactly where the goods are in real time. Many large funds have rushed to invest in this startup as Goldman Sachs in July 2016 for $ 10M. Since then, the startup has raised an additional $ 25 million, particularly in November 2017. CargoX already generates a turnover of $ 200 million and therefore ranks in the 25 largest trucks transport companies in Brazil, according to its founder! This convinced Unilever to become a customer and George Soros to invest. Satellogic, Argentina, Space Communications Elon Musk with SpaceX is not alone in building Space Tech startups! Emiliano Kargieman founded his startup after following NASA’s Ames Research Center program. Overall, the goal of Satellogic is to democratize access to space services by significantly reducing the cost of obtaining real-time data via satellite. To achieve this goal, the startupper produces nanosatellites. The final project envisages a constellation of 100 or even 300 satellites. This would allow revisits of the same land point every 15 minutes. In 2017, Satellogic secured a $ 27 million investment by Tencent and CrunchFund . Since then, the 6th microsatellite has been in orbit since the Jiuquan site in China. The 7th and 8th satellites of the network should be launched in the course of 2018. In 2018, the startup has 90 employees spread over the various offices: Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Tel Aviv, San Francisco and Barcelona. Psafe, Brazil, Mobile Security Psafe develops applications that optimize mobile security and privacy of personal data. With over 100 million downloads / installations and 20 million active users, Psafe is the largest mobile security platform in the Americas. In 2013, Psafe raised $ 30 million in Series C from Qihoo 360, Redpoint e.ventures, and Pinnacle Ventures. After these investments, the start up has partly relocated to San Francisco and boasts 10 million active users in the US. Nubank, Brazil, FinTech Nubank is the Brazilian specialist in digital finance. The startup is developing an online banking solution with a commission-free credit card that works with a mobile application. David Vélez gained “banking approval” in 2018, only 5 years after founding his company in 2013. Cristina Junqueira, the second founder, would never have thought that the growth of the first years would be as strong. The startup Nubank raised $ 80 million in 2016, notably from the DST Global fund. Then, the project get bigger again and spread to Europe with new offices in Berlin. Finally in 2018, a new raise of funds for $ 150M rushed Nubank to the closed club of unicorns (more than $ 1bn in valuation). The main investors in this new round are DST Global Investment, Redpoint Ventures, Ribbit Capital, QED and Founders Fund, the investment fund of Paypal Mafia. This last round raises the total raised funds to $ 330 million. Yogome, Mexico, EdTech Yogome develops educational games for children from 4 to 10 years old. The games are available on tablet and mobile. The application quickly climbed into the top 10 apps in the “Education” category on Apple’s App store. The games are developed by pedagogical experts and cover many topics seen in class. The company is already dreaming of a general brand of childhood. For now, the startup has raised funds around $ 27M during its last round. Previously, first fundraisers had already

Top 10 fundraising of african startups in 2017

Top 10 fundraising of African startups

In 2017, investments in African startups have been significantly increasing. The amounts invested climbed by 28% to $ 167K. In its 2017 study, the investment fund Partech Ventures even talks about $ 560M. But this figure takes into account startups whose main market is in Africa and not startups headquartered in Africa. The gap between the two figures shows the real craze of startups for future markets in Africa, which look very promising. The Startuppers Club offers the ranking of the top 10 startups that have received the most investments: PEG, Ghana: $ 13.5M – Solar Energy PEG received in 2017 a $ 13.5M investment in a Series B round led by Blue Haven Initiative and with the significant participation of Engie, EAV, Investors and Partners, Acumen and PCG Investments. The Ghanaian cleantech startup produces solar panels for more than 10,000 homes. The startup is now developing in Ivory Coast, with expansion plans in other West African countries. Twiga, Kenya: $ 10.3M – BtoB / Supply Chain This Kenyan startup, evolving in B2C commerce, raised more than $ 10M in Series A from an investor pool. Investors are Wamda Capital, Omidyar Network, DOB Equity, Uqalo, 1776, Blue Haven Initiative, Alpha Mundi and AHL. Twiga is a mobile-based logistics platform. The startup delivers products from small shops and markets in Nairobi. FlutterWave, Nigeria: $ 10M – Fintech The Fintech Flutterwave was able to raise $ 10M in a Series A round. Y combinator, the fund of the famous incubator, took a stake in this promising startup. Other fundraisers include Glynn Capital, Greycroft Partners and Green Visor. Africa has become the world leader in mobile cash management. Indeed, with more than 110 million customers who have a mobile cash account according to McKinsey research. The Nigerian startup Flutterwave is developing the technology that allows stores to accept and make payments across Africa. Incubated by Y Combinator, startuppers have offices in Lagos (Nigeria), Nairobi (Kenya), Accra (Ghana), and Johannesburg. In 2017, Flutterwave says it has been able to process $ 1.2 billion in payments for 10 million transactions. IOT.nxt, South Africa: $ 8M – IOT The South African startup specializes in the Internet of Things sector. It raised $ 7.7 million from Talent Holdings. The platform, serving businesses, connects new data sources such as sensors, legacy databases, enterprise systems, applications, machines and cloud services. Its service connects people to machines on any network. Solar Now, Uganda: $ 6M – Solar Energy The startup specializing in solar energy raised $ 6M in funds from SunFunder, a fund specializing in the same field as its name suggests. Other investors are associated with this fundraising such as Responsibility Investments AG and Oikocredit. SolarNow provides solar energy solutions and financing for these solutions in Eastern Africa. The startup has already spun off with 46 franchises in Uganda, with high hopes for continental expansion. Vezeeta, Egypt: $ 5M – Healthtech This Egyptian start-up from the Healthtech sector has secured a $ 5M investment from BECO Capital. Other investors in this venture capital are Vostok New Ventures, TDF and Silicon BadiaSeries. Vezeeta is developing a solution that connects the various providers of the health ecosystem. The technology of these startuppers is cloud based. Patients can contact doctors and make appointments, as with Doctolib in France. Vezeeta offers a search engine of doctors with geography, specialty and fees. The service is free for patients. Cars45, Nigeria: $ 5M – E-commerce Cars45 is a startup based in Nigeria. The E-commerce company offers a car buy-back service. The startup has raised $ 5 million in a Series A round. The investment comes from the Frontiers Cars Group specialist. Cars45 builds the infrastructure that allows second-hand car buyers and buyers to find themselves. Provident, the startup has even created inspection centers to record vehicles and gather all the information necessary for a transaction in good conditions. WeThiknkCode, South Africa: 4.5M $ – Ed Tech It may be an emul of Ecole 42 or openclassrooms. WeThinkCode is a program for learning code and programming. The program is free. The goal is to eliminate the lack of technological skills in Africa. The South African startup has raised $ 4.5M from BCX. In exchange for this capital, BCX will recover many program trainees that lasts 2 years. A physical campus was launched in Cape Town in December 2017. Bitpesa, Kenya: 4.5M $ – Fintech Bitpesa surfs on fashionable technology: the blockchain. Indeed, the startup specializing in cryptocurrency payments raised $ 2.5M in Serie A from the US fund Draper VC in January 2017. Then, a second investment round led to a new fundraising for $ 2M from Greycroft Partners. This fund is led by Alan Patricof – the father of seed capital that founded Apax Partners. Founded in 2013, Bitpesa accepts bitcoin payments and organizes currency exchange with local currencies. More than 30 currencies are supported. Oolu, Senegal: 3M $ – Solar Energy This Senegalese startup that was incubated at the Y Combinator raised $ 3.2M in Series A led by Persistent Energy Capital which was joined by the Y Combinator. Founded in 2015, Oolu provides solar power kits consisting of 3 adjustable lights and 2 USB ports. Stored electricity can last up to 6 hours. The start-up installs its solution and maintains it with a limited financial subscription.