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PayPal supports the Indonesian insurance company (*47*) with USD 47 million

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PayPal Ventures’ latest investment is in an Indonesian startup that provides insurance products covering quite a lot of risks, including accidents, phone screen damage and ticket cancellation, to greater than 5 million customers.

(*47*) has secured $47 million in a brand new round led jointly by PayPal Ventures and MassMutual Ventures, the five-year-old startup said Wednesday. MUFG Innovation partners Omidyar Network, in addition to existing backers Flourish Ventures, Eurazeo and AppWorks also participated in the Series C financing, bringing Qoala’s total funding to over $130 million since its inception.

Jakarta-based (*47*) is an insurtech platform that partners with leading local insurers and e-commerce corporations to supply customers personalized and inexpensive products. It sells insurance – covering cars, motorcycles, property, personal accident, travel and health – through its website and app, in addition to through offline contacts.

Despite being the fourth most populous country in the world, Indonesia has a comparatively low insurance penetration rate. According to the Indonesian Financial Services Authority, Indonesia’s insurance penetration rate is below 4%, which is lower than the global average.

This low penetration could be attributed to several aspects, including limited awareness of insurance products, low disposable income amongst a significant slice of the population, and lack of trust in insurance corporations. The Insurance Development Institute further says that the insurance industry in Indonesia is very fragmented with many small players, resulting in increased competition and lower profit margins, posing risks to the sector’s growth and penetration.

The startup – which also relies on a network of greater than 60,000 employees it calls “agents,” or insurance sales marketers – simplifies the claims process by uploading photos and uses machine learning to detect fraud, benefiting each customers and insurers. expanding access to convenient and cost-effective insurance solutions.

Last yr, it processed greater than 115,000 claims and added 45,000 latest users, says the startup, which serves greater than 5 million customers in total. (*47*), which also counts Peak XV amongst its supporters, operates in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam along with its home market of Indonesia.

(*47*) revealed that its gross written premium has increased 2.5 times since 2022, and the startup now handles as much as 60% of all claims internally, even though it didn’t disclose exact numbers.

(*47*) co-founder and CEO Harshet Lunani said the latest funding “shows the market’s confidence” in the startup’s strategy. “Our mission to democratize insurance remains unwavering, and with this new injection of funding, we are better positioned than ever to drive innovation and impact lives and livelihoods,” he said in a prepared statement.

(*47*) plans to make use of the latest funds to explore strategic acquisitions and partnerships, in addition to to introduce artificial intelligence into its channels.

“It is commendable to see what Qoala has achieved in a short period of time,” Alexandros Bottenbruch, director of PayPal Ventures, said in a press release. “By positioning itself as the solution of choice for both consumer-facing platforms and traditional agents, Qoala provides consumers across Southeast Asia with much-needed tools to address the persistent protection gap.”

PayPal Ventures is not any stranger to Indonesia. She also supported Gojek in 2020.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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US medical device giant Artivion says hackers stole files during a cybersecurity incident

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Artivion, a medical device company that produces implantable tissue for heart and vascular transplants, says its services have been “disrupted” resulting from a cybersecurity incident.

In 8-K filing In an interview with the SEC on Monday, Georgia-based Artivion, formerly CryoLife, said it became aware of a “cybersecurity incident” that involved the “compromise and encryption” of information on November 21. This suggests that the corporate was attacked by ransomware, but Artivion has not yet confirmed the character of the incident and didn’t immediately reply to TechCrunch’s questions. No major ransomware group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Artivion said it took some systems offline in response to the cyberattack, which the corporate said caused “disruptions to certain ordering and shipping processes.”

Artivion, which reported third-quarter revenue of $95.8 million, said it didn’t expect the incident to have a material impact on the corporate’s funds.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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It’s a Raspberry Pi 5 in a keyboard and it’s called Raspberry Pi 500

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Manufacturer of single-board computers Raspberry Pi is updating its cute little computer keyboard device with higher specs. Named Raspberry Pi500This successor to the Raspberry Pi 400 is just as powerful as the present Raspberry Pi flagship, the Raspberry Pi 5. It is on the market for purchase now from Raspberry Pi resellers.

The Raspberry Pi 500 is the simplest method to start with the Raspberry Pi because it’s not as intimidating because the Raspberry Pi 5. When you take a look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you do not see any chipsets or PCBs (printed circuit boards). The Raspberry Pi is totally hidden in the familiar housing, the keyboard.

The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is you could connect a mouse and a display and you are able to go. If, for instance, you’ve got a relative who uses a very outdated computer with an outdated version of Windows, the Raspberry Pi 500 can easily replace the old PC tower for many computing tasks.

More importantly, this device brings us back to the roots of the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational applications. Over time, technology enthusiasts and industrial customers began using single-board computers all over the place. (For example, when you’ve ever been to London Heathrow Airport, all of the departures and arrivals boards are there powered by Raspberry Pi.)

Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the roots of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a non-profit organization. It’s the right first computer for college. In some ways, it’s a lot better than a Chromebook or iPad because it’s low cost and highly customizable, which inspires creative pondering.

The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card that comes pre-installed with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution. It costs $90, which is a slight ($20) price increase over the Raspberry Pi 400.

Only UK and US keyboard variants will probably be available at launch. But versions with French, German, Italian, Japanese, Nordic and Spanish keyboard layouts will probably be available soon. And when you’re in search of a bundle that features all the things you would like, Raspberry Pi also offers a $120 desktop kit that features the Raspberry Pi 500, a mouse, a 27W USB-C power adapter, and a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable.

In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced one other recent thing: the Raspberry Pi monitor. It is a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor that’s priced at $100. Since there are quite a few 1080p portable monitors available on the market, this launch is not as noteworthy because the Pi 500. However, for die-hard Pi fans, there’s now also a Raspberry Pi-branded monitor option available.

Image credits:Raspberry Pi

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Apple Vision Pro may add support for PlayStation VR controllers

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Vision Pro headset

According to Apple, Apple desires to make its Vision Pro mixed reality device more attractive for gamers and game developers latest report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

The Vision Pro was presented more as a productivity and media consumption device than a tool geared toward gamers, due partly to its reliance on visual and hand controls moderately than a separate controller.

However, Apple may need gamers if it desires to expand the Vision Pro’s audience, especially since Gurman reports that lower than half one million units have been sold to this point. As such, the corporate has reportedly been in talks with Sony about adding support for PlayStation VR2 handheld controllers, and has also talked to developers about whether they may support the controllers of their games.

Offering more precise control, Apple may also make other forms of software available in Vision Pro, reminiscent of Final Cut Pro or Adobe Photoshop.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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