At Invested Development, we recognize that innovation has the power to make a difference in the lives of people living in poverty. The challenges in the developing world have created a unique opportunity for entrepreneurship and innovation. In Africa, entrepreneurs are proving that they can overcome roadblocks to success and create products that help local communities, and make a profit. Below are articles exploring entrepreneurship in Africa. Think Africa is no threat to Silicon Valley? … read more
Enabling Internet Connectivity in Africa
Access to reliable power and internet connection in Africa is an issue that we are always seeking to solve with investments in new technologies. These new technologies and increased investment in the market are positioning Africa as a leader in growth. The articles below highlight the exciting developments.
Africa marked as fastest growing technology market on IT News Africa
Hemmanth Singh, managing executive of m-Commerce at Vodacom, revealed Africa as the fastest growing technology market … read more
Education, Energy, and the Digital Divide in Africa
“While education unlocks the door to development, increasingly it is information technologies that can unlock the door to education”- Kofi Anaan, 2003
It’s widely accepted that technology has improved education in many ways: more efficient communication, better story telling, more accurate assessment, comprehensive access to information and research, just to name a few. Unfortunately, technology has also widened the education gap between affluent and impoverished schools. Education technology (EdTech) tools are often expensive, energy thirsty, … read more
The Future of Agriculture Technology
With our vested interest in agriculture technology, we are always excited to hear about new developments in the agriculture sector. Below are some of the best articles about the future of agriculture technology.
Tradition Meets Technology: The Changing Face of Agriculture by Elizabeth Arakelian on Turlock Journal
Agriculture is a $395 billion industry in the United States, but the average age of the American farmer is 58 years old. The inclusion of technology in the … read more
Technological Advancements in Agriculture
The food and agriculture industry, from big to small, from the US to Africa, will undergo a new wave of technology adoption in the next 5-10 years. The core theme driving this adoption is the need for food security and food safety.
“Agricultural Technologies Could Increase Global Crop Yields as Much as 67 Percent and Cut Food Prices Nearly in Half by 2050” by International Food Policy Research Institute
The world’s population is … read more
Growth of the Mobile Money Market
With mobile technology as one of our key investment themes, mobile money has been exemplary in defining the impact that mobile can have on access to finance for both individuals and organizations. Here’s what we read this week on the latest news in mobile money.
Mobile Money Transforms Kenyan Banking Market from Mobile Payments Today
As one of the best examples of successful mobile money adoption, 64% of Kenyans now actively use their mobile phone … read more
Converging Trends in AgTech
We are always researching the latest innovations in the agriculture technology sector for potential investments for the BSP Fund. Here are some of the stories that caught our attention this week.
Robot Farmers are the Future of Agriculture, says Government by Fiona Harvey
Development of an increasing number of “farmbots” is beginning to take place in many countries. These robots and drones are specially made to perform time-consuming agricultural tasks, such as weeding, pruning, … read more
Push for Agricultural Technology
This week we focused on the growing push of technology in the agricultural sector. An estimated 50% of the world’s land is used for agriculture. With the world’s growing population, we need an increase in food production and sustainable agricultural practices to support upcoming generations. By 2050, the global population is expected to exceed 9 billion people. We are always looking for innovators and start-ups that can bring innovation and technology to the agricultural sector.… read more
Mobile Technology in Latin America
After nearly a decade of increases, GDP growth in Latin America slowed from 4.4 percent in 2011 to 3.2 percent in 2012 and 4.0 percent in 2013. Despite slowing growth, Latin American countries are still innovating and embracing new ICT. We are always looking for start ups and innovators to bring technology to Latin America.
‘Colombia will be 1st country in Latin America completely connected to internet:’ Santos by Daniel Freeman on Colombia Reports
Recently, … read more
Agriculture in Africa
Agriculture employs 65% of Africa’s labor force and accounts for 32% of gross domestic product overall. Of the 65% employed, smallholder farmers produce 80% of Africa’s food. With modern technology, African countries are taking initiatives to change the agricultural sector.
Science Agriculture Estate Programme to Begins Next Year on Ghana News Agency
On November 19, Seth Terkper, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, announced that the Ghanaian government will begin working on an … read more
Mobile Money Services
Developing countries received over $400 billion in remittances in 2012 according to a World Bank (see our infographic on remittances here). This is a great example of how mobile money has changed the way people send money by making it easier and safer. This week, we read many stories detailing both progress and challenges in the sector. We are always looking for innovative entrepreneurs that piggyback on the success of mobile money to provide … read more
Impact of Mobile Advancements in Developing Countries
With the upcoming GSMA Mobile for Development Summit, we focused our weekly reading on mobile money and technology. Mobile money has become a mainstream service for MNOs in emerging markets posing both benefits and risks. We are always looking for innovators and startups that can piggyback on these innovations to promote financial inclusion at the bottom of the pyramid.
Mobile money transforming Africa by Arthur Goldstruck on Mark Lives
Since the first mobile payments … read more
Big Data in Agriculture
This week we focused on the use of Big Data in agriculture. Big Data is changing the agriculture market and creating sustainable farming. We are always looking for innovation and new start-ups that can lead us to sustainable farming methods.
The Next Big Market for Data and Connected Devices – Agriculture by Stacey Higginbotham on Gigaom
As the local food and sustainable farming movements grow, Big Data is helping farmers grow produce more food at … read more
Food Waste in the World
In this week’s reading we focused on food waste throughout the world. Each year nearly 30% of the world’s farmland is used to grow food that is not eaten, adding up to 4 billion tons of food waste. Food waste contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and cost inefficiencies. We are always looking for innovators and start-ups that can use technology to reduce this waste.
Fixation with food safety means so much of it goes to … read more
Agriculture’s Impact on Water
For this week’s reading, we focused on agriculture’s impact on water. By 2020, between 75 to 250 billion people will be exposed to water stress, a result of depleting fresh water resources. Although there are policy-driven efforts to reduce water stress and contamination, we are always looking for new technologies and initiatives that can have a greater impact on these global problems.
EPA ordered to assess fertilizer runoff by Colleen Scherer on AG Professional
Following … read more
Agriculture’s Impact on the Environment.
With every action comes a consequence. In our reading this week, we focused on the consequences of agricultural practices on the environment. We are always looking for new investments that can solve these worldwide problems.
“Water pollution” by C Michael Hogan on The Encyclopedia of Earth
With 50 millions annual deaths worldwide due to contaminated water, water pollution has become a serious, global health risk. Unfortunately, agriculture is one of the biggest water … read more
Internet Access is a Human Right
Our blog may have been quiet this summer, but our last newsletter can give you an idea why! We weren’t the only ones who had a busy summer: the UN declared Internet access a basic human right, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg launched an effort to bring internet access to every corner the globe. Here are stories from the summer commenting on ubiquitous internet access.
UN General Assembly’s Declaration of Internet as a Human Right (PDF)… read more
Waste to Energy Technologies
We are always keeping an eye on the latest innovations in alternative energy and waste management for the BSP Fund. Here are some of the stories that caught our interest this week.
Bloomberg Plan Aims to Require Food Composting by Mireya Navarro on The New York Times
Mayor Bloomberg is piloting food waste recycling programs in New York City. While the programs are currently voluntary, many city officials hope to make them mandatory within … read more
Invested Development Invests in OnFarm Systems to Improve Decision-Making on the Farm
Invested Development Invests in OnFarm Systems to Improve Decision-Making on the Farm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2013
Boston, MA & Fresno, CA – Invested Development (ID), an early stage investment fund manager, has invested in OnFarm Systems, an agriculture technology startup. OnFarm offers an innovative SaaS solution that increases farm productivity and profits. OnFarm’s technology combines multiple data sources into one user-friendly, cloud-based dashboard to make decision-making on the farm easier.
Growers are rapidly … read more
Remittances and Mobile Technology
The increase in remittances and money transfers poses an interesting challenge to mobile and banking technologies. We are always looking for the newest innovations in mobile tech for the BSP Fund. Here are some of the stories that caught our attention in remittances and mobile technology this week.
Remittances to Africa carry a high price tag by Tosin Sulaiman on Reuters
As the official remittance flow to Africa has increased to a record $60.4 … read more
The Impact of Technology in Agriculture
You may have noticed over the last few months that we’ve expanded our focus to technology in agriculture. After years of investing and months of research, “ag tech” is now an active sector focus, but it’s always been an area of interest for us. In fact, two of our portfolio companies, SlimTrader and Promethean Power, deploy their technologies with farmers. Over the last few months, we’ve seen a flurry of activity in the ag … read more
Mobile Money
We are always researching the latest innovations in mobile technology for potential investments for the BSP Fund. Here are some of the stories that caught our attention in mobile technology and mobile money.
How can financial services work best for the poor? by Anna Scott on The Guardian
In order to develop a service that effectively serves a poor population, it is necessary to consider their needs. The product should be designed around the … read more
Agricultural Technologies for Irrigation
We are always researching the latest innovations in the agriculture sector for potential investments for the BSP Fund. Here are some of the stories that caught our attention in the irrigation and agriculture fields. If you’re working on an innovative irrigation system, apply for investment consideration here.
Government Eyes Irrigation Law to Boost Farm Sector by Madalitso Mwando
Zimbabwe, previously one of the largest food producers in Africa, has struggled in past years … read more
Mobile Tech Innovations in Agriculture
We are always looking for our next BSP Fund investments and researching the latest innovations in the mobile tech and agriculture sectors. Here are some of the stories that caught our interest this week.
Digital Farming- New App to Help Horticulture by Agatha Ngotho on The Star
A new app has been developed in Kenya to help over 50,000 farmers with data management. The Farmforce software is designed to help farmers manage and file the … read more
Technology and Business for Good
This week, our thoughts are with the victims of the Boston Marathon Explosions. As with all tragedies, we must soldier on with daily life. Here’s news from the week that serve as a reminder of the good things that are happening in the world as a result of technology and business.
“Crowdsourcing Solar is a Bright and Powerful Idea” by RP Siegel on Triple Pundit
Financing continues to be the biggest barrier to … read more