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- NFR 29 - eCom Finance, Supply Chains & Alternative Schools
NFR 29 - eCom Finance, Supply Chains & Alternative Schools
eCom Finance, Supply Chains & Alternative Schools
☕️ Morning Inspiration:
“My attitude has always been, if you fall flat on your face, at least you’re moving forward. All you have to do is get back up and try again.”
Richard Branson
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🤖 eCommerce News:
“E-commerce has continued to boom in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but running an e-commerce business has also become significantly more chaotic, with unpredictable supply chains, logistics hiccups and overall higher costs upending even the best-laid plans. To underscore the demand for solutions to address this, today a startup called Wayflyer — which has built a new kind of financing platform, using big data analytics and repayments based on a merchant’s revenue activity — is announcing a big round of funding, $150 million.”
“Metafy is a startup that operates a marketplace for video game coachingThis publication last covered Metafy in May 2021, when the company raised a $5.5 million extension to its preceding $3.15 million seed round. Since that funding event, Metafy acquired rival games coaching platform GamersRdy, and the company said coaches using its service grossed over $1 million last year. Metafy doesn’t take a cut of coach income when they use its platform; it charges students a 5% fee.”
“The New York-based company is developing online ordering tools for enterprise restaurant chains and ghost kitchens to act as a restaurant’s entire digital tech stack for everything from managing orders to apps to loyalty programs, so the experience is not only frictionless, but also increases sales and customer engagement.”
“Amitruck, a Kenyan tech-enabled logistics platform, is one such provider of solutions that streamline the shipping market. The startup, which has achieved a great take-off in Kenya, is set to strengthen its technical, operations and sales team to lay ground for its entry into Tanzania and Uganda, after raising $4 million in seed funding (bringing the total funds raised to date to $5 million). The expansion plans come as it looks to be the regional go-to platform for shippers and transporters doing in-country and cross-border business.”
“Wordle, the popular puzzle game that has captivated users around the world, has been purchased by The New York Times Company. The game has been acquired for an undisclosed price in the “low-seven figures.” The New York Times Company says Wordle will be free to play for new and existing players for the time being. The company also says no changes will be made to its gameplay as it moves to The New York Times.”
“The demand for software engineers is expected to grow by 22% between 2020 and 2030, according to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This figure is larger than the 4% average for other careers. One would be out of touch with reality to say they haven’t noticed this phenomenon in Lagos, Africa’s startup capital city, where mid to senior-level engineers are leaving in droves to seek better pay and opportunities in companies outside Africa. Andela has been pivotal to placing the continent’s tech talent globally. But since the unicorn changed its business model to a pure marketplace focusing on senior developers, other platforms such as AltSchool Africa are trying to fill one of the gaps it left: training people to become junior to mid-level engineers.”
“Scaler, an edtech startup that offers upskilling courses to working professionals in India, has raised $55 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand to international markets including the U.S., the Bengaluru-headquartered firm said Tuesday.”
“Phantom’s next big ambition is to go multi-chain and add support for another blockchain beyond the Solana ecosystem to its wallet. The startup isn’t indicating where exactly it’s aiming to focus resources other than that it’s looking to add support for a blockchain compatible with Ethereum’s EVM stack where most crypto developers have been focusing their attention and where competitors like MetaMask loom large.”
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📈 Trends Of The Week:
Subscription boxes are stacked high
“The pandemic pushed many Americans to retreat to their homes for both work and play, and subscription services are making the most of it.
About a third of Americans signed up for a retail subscription box as of last year—spending $57 a month on average—per Emarsys research.”
“The subscription boom is predicted to reach $1.5 trillion by 2025, according to UBS.”
“Global smartphone shipments had already begun to shrink ahead of 2020, though two years of a pandemic and the resulting supply chain and chip constraints certainly didn’t help the overall figures. According to a pair of reports from Counterpoint Research and IDC, however, the market finally experienced growth last year for first time since 2017.”
“These problems are serious—and they are not going away. In fact, a new Kearney analysis shows that continued supply chain challenges could cost the North American apparel and footwear industry (about $400 billion total annual revenue) between $9 and $17 billion in lost EBITDA in 2022 ). This estimate was calculated shortly before the omicron COVID-19 variant emerged, and so is likely conservative.”
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🛍 My Marketing Highlight:
Going all in on SEO…
I’ve seen this floating around for a few weeks and I think it deserves a shout out
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❓Quotes that make you think:
“If you absolutely can’t tolerate critics, then don’t do anything new or interesting.” Jeff Bezos
“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” John Maynard Keynes
“It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves.” Simone Weil
“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” Joseph Chilton Pearce
“Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it.” Tom Lehrer
“A ‘no’ uttered from deepest conviction is better than a ‘yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.” Mahatma Gandhi
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📚 Course I am participating in:
“Former Allbirds Global VP of Marketing Julie Channing helps you unlock next-generation strategies for effectively scaling your marketing efforts while still remaining true to your brand’s purpose.”