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Madica, a program of Flourish Ventures, increases pre-seed investment in Africa

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medicinean investment program launched by US investor Flourish Ventures to support start-ups in Africa planning to speculate in as much as 10 ventures by the tip of the yr, increasing funding efforts after closing three initial deals.

Madica revealed the plans to TechCrunch, pointing to accelerated investments in the approaching yr because it plans to create as much as 30 startups by the tip of the three-year program that began in the center of last yr, after launching in late 2022.

It was announced today that the primary investors of the program include, amongst others: Kola MarketB2B platform founded by Marie-Reine Seshie to assist SMEs increase sales and simplify their business operations. There are others GoBEBAKenyan on-demand home goods retailer founded by Lesley Mbogo AND Peter Ndiang’uiAND Newform Foods (formerly Mzansi Meat) South African cultured meat start-up founded by Brett Thompson AND Tasneem Karodii.

More people will join the program as Madica explores potential deals in emerging markets equivalent to Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, DRC, Rwanda and Ethiopia. This is in line with its plan to achieve startups across sectors and markets, in addition to those led by underrepresented and underfunded founders. Madica looks beyond fintechs, Africa’s best-funded sector, and is desperate to support startups founded by female founders (or those with at the very least one female founder), a demographic that continues to receive modest VC funding.

“I consider that given the number of challenges that exist across the continent, it’s the entrepreneurs operating in these markets who understand the context and have experience with these issues which might be best placed to unravel these challenges. The goal of the Madica program is to prove and show you can find founders who construct good businesses, but don’t fit into the standard, homogeneous group,” he said. Emmanuel AdegboyeMadika’s boss.

Madica makes an upfront investment of $200,000 once a enterprise is accepted into the program, which lasts as much as 18 months and in addition includes tailored practical support and mentoring. It allocated $6 million to speculate in a scalable technology-based business and the identical amount to implement the primary phase of the program, which is a rolling entry. The program doesn’t apply standard investment conditions, which makes each transaction unique.

“Our programs are very personalized, but also somewhat structured because founders join the program at different times. The personalized part of the program is extremely important because we want to understand what they need and how we can best support them,” Adegboye said.

“But we also recognize that at any given time we will have at least a few companies that we are working with on the program, so we have several parts of the program that are very structured and cover each company in the portfolio,” he said.

Adegboye hopes that because the program catalyzes pre-seed investments across Africa’s diverse ecosystems, Madica can attract more capital to the continent and ultimately function a benchmark for global VCs trying to scale in the market.

“Depending on how the program goes, there is a possibility that we could double it or make it available to other partners who will join us and accelerate this mission.”

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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