Innovation in Africa

By GABRIELLA MULLIGAN 27 January 2017

From mobile money to cargo drones and rugged portable wifi hotspots, Africa’s innovators are generating new technology to tackle consumer needs and development challenges.

New data charting investment activity flowing into Africa’s tech start-ups shows that international investors are taking notice. According to Disrupt Africa, a portal for start-ups and accelerators across the region, tech start-ups on the continent raised more than $129m in 2016.

Overall, 146 start-ups raised investment, a 16.8 per cent rise in the number of funding rounds compared to 2015. 

Financial inclusion remains a challenge across Africa, where only a third of adults have access to any kind of basic financial services, according to the IMF. It makes sense, then, that financial technology – or “fintech” – innovations attracted the most start-up funding in 2016.

Singapore raises close to a billion dollars in 77 deals in 6 months

 

Offerpad raises $260m

This should be done in Oz! 

GILBERT, AZ -- (Marketwired) -- 01/25/17 -- OfferPad, the premium onlineplatform changing the way homeowners sell their homes, has secured a $260 million investment of combined equity and debt to continue expansion in additional markets throughout the US. Terms of the investment were made mid-year 2016, with the final tranche of equity about to be finalized. With the injection of capital from private funds managed by LL Funds, LLC., an investment management firm based in Philadelphia, OfferPad will bring this experience to more homeowners.

Founded by real estate industry leaders Brian Bair and Jerry Coleman, OfferPad is reinventing how people sell their homes by eliminating the hassle and uncertainty of the home selling process. Bair was formerly the second highest-selling real estate agent in the US, according to an annual ranking report by REAL Trends, Inc. and The Wall Street Journal. Coleman is one of the founders of Invitation Homes LP, a Blackstone Group company and the largest owner of single-family rental homes in US history with an investment of over $10 billion dollars. Through their experience acquiring approximately 100,000 homes across the country, the team recognized the needs of homeowners have evolved, while the traditional model has remained stagnant.

"Since teaming up almost a decade ago, the number one goal for Jerry and I has been to improve the experience for customers selling their homes," said Brian Bair, co-founder of OfferPad. "The idea came from a concierge service our firm offered, designed to take most of the hassle out of selling a home with us. The one thing we couldn't provide was control over the sale or the closing date. Now we can."

OfferPad buys homes directly from homeowners through an online platform -- allowing them to skip the painful traditional process millions experience each year when selling a home. The company utilizes technology, in unison with local real estate experts, to make the entire process convenient and stress-free.

"OfferPad is already providing a revolutionary solution in the single-family home industry. With the support of LL Funds, we can now continue to scale the business, offering a better option to tens of thousands of additional homeowners this year, and we're just getting started," said Jerry Coleman, co-founder of OfferPad.

Customer reception to the OfferPad model has been very encouraging, and the company is expanding rapidly. Soon to hit 100 employees, OfferPad has realized substantial revenue growth since launching in 2015, and it plans to increase operations and home purchases significantly. OfferPad is currently in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Tampa Bay and Orlando. The company will officially launch in Los Angeles this month, and already has plans to expand into additional markets soon thereafter, with a broader goal of taking the service nationwide in the coming years.

"We were impressed by the OfferPad team's insight and experience in the residential real estate market," said Roberto Sella, managing partner of LL Funds.

"Their passion for providing a great customer experience, combined with the opportunity to use technology, data and analytics to impact a market that's ready for a change, attracted us to this opportunity," added Shivraj (Raj) Mundy, partner at LL Funds and OfferPad board member.

"We believe this market will grow dramatically in the next five years and OfferPad is leveraging our industry knowledge to best support homeowners," said Bair. "We've optimized the customer experience without losing the personal touch required when people are putting their largest asset up for sale. We want to provide incredible customer service and the best purchase price to give homeowners confidence in our intent to offer a fair alternative to traditional home selling."

About LL Funds, LLC.
Founded in 2009, LL Funds, LLC. is an independent investment manager focused on identifying opportunistic investments with substantial positive return asymmetry. Currently LL Funds manages $1.4 billion for endowments, foundations, individuals and family offices through multiple private-equity and fixed-income investment vehicles.

About OfferPad
OfferPad is real estate reinvented, making buying and selling a home convenient and hassle-free. Created by technology and real estate experts, customers get the best of both worlds -- a fair and competitive offer all at the click of a button. OfferPad is a privately held company headquartered in Gilbert, Arizona, with markets in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Tampa Bay and Orlando -- with additional cities coming soon. For more information, visit www.offerpad.com.

Helpful links
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OfferPad
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/OfferPad 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrycoleman1
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-bair-52aa1a4

Contact
Heather Thornton
WiredPR Group
Email Contact 
602.538.2274 

The best is yet to come

 

Are we ready for Artificial Intelligence

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds the key to a new human-augmented era. A new world is being shaped, where computers work intelligently on our behalf and with us, rather than under our direct input. Immense opportunities are created by the combination of almost limitless cloud computing power and the digitization of our physical world, with the Internet of Everything. 

The new era has started: cloud and machine learning technologies are making our collaboration with “computers” more intuitive, more conversational, more intelligent, and ultimately much more embedded in all our lives. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is already centered around advancements in AI. And all companies are becoming digitally AI-enabled, or they will soon be.

An amazing future is therefore ahead of us, where AI will create new businesses in ways previously unimaginable and will help us to solve some of the planet’s biggest challenges. It is just amazing, wonderful, and sometimes overwhelming, but… are we ready for Artificial Intelligence?

I see at least three top priorities we should all share, in preparing for an inclusive, trusted, and socially positive AI-augmented world. And these three priorities are centered on “democratization”.

1) Democratizing MISSION of Artificial Intelligence

A profound question we collectively need to ask is: “what are the design principles we need to follow in developing Artificial Intelligence, considering the unprecedented impact it will have on us?”. The way we interact with “computers” will profoundly change. The notion itself of a “computer” will radically transform. Together with AI, cognitive services, mixed-reality, and new human-machine interfaces, we will redefine how we and “computers” interact, collaborate, and ultimately complement each other. 

In this respect, it is vital that ethics and design go hand in hand. We (Microsoft) have published our thoughts on a set of core AI design principles to ensure that this technology is transparent and secure, and sets the highest bar for protecting privacy, while also being inclusive and respectful to all. At its core, the role of AI must be not to replace but rather to enhance human skills and drive growth. This is the mission we must give to any Artificial Intelligence: augmenting our life and our capabilities.

2) Democratizing ACCESS to Artificial Intelligence

It is crucial securing that AI lead to an inclusive growth rather than just lining the pockets of the few riches. For this reason, we are developing tools that will enable every person and every organization in the world to benefit from AI. We need to evolve AI from centralized local data centers to mobile and cloud, making it accessible to all. Solutions like Microsoft Translator, Cortana Intelligence Suite, and our Bot Framework are already empowering anyone to both use and build on AI.

We must eventually secure access to AI tools to all businesses, public sector organizations, and people, empowering them to build their own augmented -intelligence capabilities. Ultimately, everyone can and should benefit from the great promise of artificial intelligence, as its potential is just enormous

3) Democratizing USAGE of Artificial Intelligence

We must prepare for the future, including the jobs of the future. This applies to all governments, schools, public organizations, businesses, and individuals at large. Without a deliberate and proactive focus, we’re at risk of leaving people behind in the explosive growth driven by this new technology. Collectively, we need to share this priority for a growth that must be beneficial for everyone, with a strong focus on augmented education, inclusive innovation and encouraged usage of technology.

It is not humans versus machines, it is about humans with machines, each of which excel at different things. Therefore, we must (all of us) learn to work with AI, bringing our creativity, empathy, emotion, and judgment (as humans) together with the fast computation and ability to reason over large amounts of data of machines. Together, humans and machines can complement each other and help society forward in enhancing our experiences and quality of life,

Ultimately, AI can make jobs “more human” by taking advantage of our “essential human skills” and leaving all the rest to computers. We should learn how to augment our performance with technology (and yes, some of the technology will be very smart), but then add human elements to provide higher levels of customer value and services, with our very human touch.

 

Considering Artificial Intelligence will impact all of us, I look forward to any feedback you may have on this post. I strongly believe our human ingenuity and values will harness this technology to transform our world in ways previously unimaginable. Ultimately, AI can give us back more and more of our most precious asset in life, i.e. qualitative time with our loved ones. 

Written by

Fabio MoioliHead of Consulting & Services at Microsoft (previously Vice President @Capgemini @McKinsey @Ericsson)

Best comment on Henry Ford's comment wins a prize

 

Robots and the future of work

 

Robots are about convenience, so why do we fear them? They bring us a better life and freedom from repetitive tasks.

When I have children one day, I want them to grow up with helpful robots. What can Alexa or Pepper or Kuri be in ten years time?

Alexa is my conversational partner of choice. Amazon knows me better than Google, probably better than Facebook (okay definitely better than Facebook).

Like fellow LinkedIn #StudentVoices writer, Cole Felder puts it, The "end of work" is our opportunity to be human. I really do believe that, because robots are a big way for artificial intelligence to see her way around the world and learn to be companionable.

Human beings might be the "mother of robots", but what can robots build one day? Can they build me the world where the work I do as a human being is meaningful, creative and has a higher chance of being impactful? That's the world I want to live in.

I'm fine with drivers, cooks, manufacturers and retail workers being replaced, we can do better things. We have to do more, to build a fair, ethical and just future for all. In the future I'm dreaming of, human beings don't have a right to exploit each other or pretend that one person is more important than another.

Let's Make the Future Love-able

McKinsey&Company, tell us that robots will soon be able to do a lot of what we do now. You might fear change, but I embrace it. That's the world I will live in, I just started University.

It's important to make things that are able to make other things, just as it was important for our economy to automate agriculture so instead of 40% of us doing working just to feed ourselves, now only 2% of us need to work in agriculture to provide for our food needs.

The positive impact of intelligent robots is so far-reaching, it touches on every field of human activity and endeavor.

• Manufacturing (factory robots, 3D-printing, automated factory)
• Transportation (self-driving vehicles)
• Healthcare (too many to name)
• Education (cute robots at home, smart coursera robot, smart speaker, IoT apps)
• Construction and urban maintenance
• Shopping and drone delivery
• Cook and household work
• Elderly care and companionship
• Customer Service

Rather than being resistant and stuck in our ways, maybe we should embrace the better world that will be due to robots. If we already know 45% of human activities can be automated, shouldn't we strive for that as soon as possible to benefit the greatest number of people on the planet? This isn't just about you or me, we'll survive and learn, this is about creating an economy where new jobs can be created that ennoble the human experience.

Let's Give the Robots a Job

Let's employ robots so we can build an artificial intelligence that will make the digital world less of a vacuum and lonely place and give our relationships the priority the deserve. Do you really believe in the future we'll think sixty hour work weeks are the best way to live?

Letting automation do more is the self-checkout from the past. Letting go of the past is the job of every new generation. It's our responsibility, it's my duty as a young person who will inherit civic membership, to be forwards looking. For every blue and white collar job displaced, new ones will take their place that is better suited for human beings.

The Race for Robots is Real

Whoever makes the best robots owns the future of work. There will be so many kinds of robots, there are already quite a few. Will it be China, Japan or can we too make useful, adorable and importantly, robots able to learn? It's more important than everything else, it's how AI, IoT, Big Data and 3D-printing reach the next level of sophistication.

Robots like Ethan, from the show Extant. Robots will enable us to understand the human condition in new ways, and help us take greater custodianship over the material world, we have so unconditionally exploited.

Robots will be our children, but also our slaves and we'll learn to love our robots until robots themselves can become something else.

Please  do not fear Robots and the future of work, they are our saviors and our extended hands to do good in the world. Automation will prevent people from suffering, lift countries out of poverty and increase global productivity. 

Disagree with me? Why not add your two cents in a comment, I'll always read them. I like the future that technology can bring, but I love my robots.

I'm ChingChing Wang, and these are my student thoughts as I set to enter the world of data science, technology and marketing.

#StudentVoices #Technology #FutureOfWork #Robots #ArtificialIntelligence #BigIdeas #Education #Entertainment #Alexa #Pepper #Amazon #Kuri #Tesla #China

Written by

Ching Ching WangPassion for Tech | Data | Marketing & Social Media | Student at Concordia University