Embedded Finance fintech Pezesha raises $11M pre-Series A equity debt round

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TechCrunch Top 3

• Enter that economy: Pezesha, a Kenyan-based fintech startup, is in flight with $11 million in new capital as it seeks to bridge access to financial products and what is a “$330 billion funding gap for the small businesses that make up 90% of Africa’s businesses,” Annie reports.

• We are all together: If you haven’t yet found yourself in one of Twitter Connection’s circles, you soon may. The social media giant is launching its “Close Friends” features globally, Ivan reports. Add a bunch of people to your circle and tweet.

• No delivery for you: Delivery platform Gopuff has only been in Europe since November 2021, but Natasha L writes it took the decision to discontinue the service in Spain. She mentions that this is perhaps to focus more on the British market, where revenues are increasing by 30% month on month.

Startups and VCs

Initialized Capital was VC Garry Tan’s response to a need first highlighted by Y Combinator. As a partner at the accelerator from 2010 to 2015, Tan spent time working with companies to better understand what they needed from investors after they graduated. This week he announced that he is back at the helm of YC, and Natasha M interviewed him about what’s next for Y Combinator.

The company behind last summer’s hot social app, Poparazzi, looks to be lining up a round two following its $15 million Series A announced in June. A new App Store listing under the developer’s account, TTYL, teases a pre-release app called Made with Friends, Sarah reports.

The story continues

When the news hits the eye, like a big pizza pie, it’s one-more-news:

• Notification bubbles: Devin reports that there is finally an underwater messaging app.

• Money for money laundering: Flush with fresh funds, British “eco laundry” startup Oxwash raises $12 million to spin up its growth plans, Natasha L reports.

• Faster when you are further away: UK’s £5bn Project Gigabit awards its first contract to connect rural areas to high-speed broadband, Paul reports.

• PriceOye gets the Thiel stamp: Islamabad-based startup PriceOye offers a range of electronics products, including smartphones, TVs and home appliances. It just closed a funding round from investors, including Peter Thiel, reports Jagmeet.

• Avoid the SPAC bullet: Alex and Anna wrote a very interesting piece on TC+ (use “DC” for 15% off if you’re not a subscriber yet) about SPACs, how they’re falling apart, and how Europe may have dodged a bullet on that front.

How to communicate to your crypto community when things aren’t going well

Image credit: Peter Dazeley (opens in new window) / Getty Images

Because it is a nascent industry that is largely unregulated, crypto companies are generally not adept at crisis communications. (We’re being generous here.)

When a bank or financial institution experiences a massive security failure or volatility shock, federal laws dictate how they must communicate with their customers. However, crypto startups must rely on their own best judgment.

“There’s little point in declaring the sky is falling and begging your community for investment, but an overly rosy outlook won’t fool anyone either,” says Tahem Verma, co-founder and CEO of Mesha.

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, helping founders and startup teams get ahead. You can register here.)

Big Tech Inc.

Last chance to get your game on in the Facebook Gaming app. The social media giant said it is shutting down its standalone app at the end of October, Aisha reports. Don’t worry, you can still find your games in Gaming on actual Facebook. When we launched the separate app two years ago, it appeared to be more difficult than Facebook bargained for, so it decided to join them rather than beat them.