Hyped: Global - 25 June 2025

United Kingdom:  First ever Entrepreneurship Advisor appointed to the Treasury

Alex Depledge MBE has been appointed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, as the first ever Entrepreneurship Advisor to address barriers for high growth businesses.

Depledge, who has Founded several businesses including Resi and Helpling, formerly known as Hassle.com, will advise the Chancellor on the government’s entrepreneurship landscape, focusing on addressing the key barriers faced by businesses seeking to start up and scale up in the UK.

This is on top of the significant steps the UK government has already taken to support entrepreneurs through increased R&D funding and extending the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trust schemes. 

Why should you care: Entrepreneurs will now have a direct line to the government and will benefit from additional expertise within the Treasury. We think plenty of other countries around the world could benefit from Entrepreneurs in Government! 

France: €75m Investment in AI Startup Animaj shows the disruption in the media industry continues

Animaj, a French startup leveraging generative AI to boost the production of animated content for kids, has raised €75m in debt and equity to double down on its technology as the media industry increasingly adopts AI.

The Paris-based startup, which launched in 2022, has developed a generative AI tool to speed up the process of turning ideas into animation, to generate content for kids for a range of platforms including YouTube, Disney+, Prime Video and Spotify.

The fundraise was led by US media investor HarbourView Equity Partners and French public bank Bpifrance Large Venture and included participation by JP Morgan.

Source: Sifted  

Why should you care: If Investors are backing disruptive AI Startups, then they clearly believe that that disruption is going to happen.

According to the latest Te Ao Māori Trends and Insights report by Chapman Tripp, which details NZ’s indigenous economy, there has been staggering growth since 2018, with: 

• An 83% increase in Māori asset value from $69b to $126b, surpassing projections that it might reach $100b by 2030.

• Over 86% in terms of contribution to GDP: Rising from $17b in 2018 to $32b and now accounting for 9% of New Zealand’s total GDP.

A large part of this is attributed to an increase in Māori entrepreneurship, with the creation and growth of Māori-owned businesses, particularly those in professional, scientific, and technical services.

Source: Caffeine Daily

Why should you care: Indigenous populations have been marginalised across the globe.  NZ’s Māori population is bucking this trend and these numbers show their value not only to culture but to the economy. 

Australia: Impact investing in Australia has declined since 2022

The Impact Startup Benchmark Report 2025 released this week by Impact VC Giant Leap and supported by Cut Through Ventures, highlighted that Impact investing in 2024 was $1.7 billion down from a high of $2.8 billion in 2022.

Though it’s not all doom and gloom. Impact sectors have risen from 38.9% of overall startup funding in 2022 to 55.6% in 2023, before settling at 41.5% in 2024. This stable allocation signals that investor conviction around impact is strong, with sustained capital support even through a challenging environment.

Climate remains the dominant theme in Australia with 58% of Impact funding in 2024, with Health and People the next biggest verticals. For more read the full report here

Why should you care: This represents a worrying trend worldwide, with investment into some of our biggest societal and environmental problems far from where it should be

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Kenya:  Social commerce startup Chpter expands into 11 more African countries 

The Nairobi based Startup provides an AI-powered conversational commerce platform that enables businesses to sell more on social platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram by automating conversations, marketing and payments all in one place.

A recent partnership with Fintech Flutterwave, which lets merchants accept payments via mobile money, cards and bank transfers, with payouts in local currency or USD, has made this expansion possible.

The new markets are Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Malawi and Zambia, expanding its presence in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.  

Source: Tech Cabal 

Why should you care: Half a billion Africans will be online shoppers by 2025, making for a huge market that’s still underserved by tech infrastructure. 

Senegal: logistics startup Logidoo expands its Casablanca-Dakar corridor to Belgium

Founded in 2020 by Tamsir Ousmane Traoré, Logidoo has developed a comprehensive solution covering the entire logistics value chain. By integrating actors from both the formal and informal sectors, it ensures extensive market coverage, encompassing everything from transportation to cash management. 

Already operating in Senegal, Morocco, Ivory Coast, and Tunisia, the startup has so far onboarded more than 3,000 logistics providers, completed over 100,000 operations, and served over 400 clients.

Now, through a partnership with a leading Belgian logistics operator, it’s offering a regular consolidation service between Belgium, Morocco, and several West African countries.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Why should you care: This is a huge enabler for European manufacturers and e-commerce players looking to access African markets.

Want to hear more about African Tech? We highly recommend our good friend Caleb Maru’s Tech Safari newsletter, you can subscribe here 

China: Robotics firm Unitree reaches unicorn status

Unitree Robotics, a Chinese robotics company founded in 2016 by Wang Xingxing and based in Hangzhou, has reached a valuation of US$1.3 billion after its latest funding round.

Unitree is known for producing humanoid and quadruped robots. It gained public attention when its robots performed at China’s Lunar New Year’s Eve gala.

China’s robotics market is projected to grow at 23% annually to reach US$108 billion by 2028, more than doubling from US$47 billion last year, according to Morgan Stanley research.

Source: South China Morning post

Why should you care: Unitree’s rise to unicorn status with major Chinese tech giants as backers exemplifies China’s deliberate strategy to develop domestic robotics champions.

Middle East: Israel-Iran conflict unleashes wave of AI disinformation

Generative AI is being used to create fake videos causing confusion across the world about what’s actually happening during the current escalation in the Middle East. 

The three most viewed fake videos BBC Verify found have collectively amassed over 100 million views across multiple platforms.

With reports claiming that videos range from unrelated footage from Pakistan, to recycled videos from the October 2024 strikes—some of which have amassed over 20 million views—as well as game clips and AI-generated content being passed off as real events.

The torrent of disinformation marked "the first time we've seen generative AI be used at scale during a conflict," Emmanuelle Saliba, Chief Investigative Officer with the analyst group Get Real

Source: BBC News

Why should you care: Take this as your warning to be media smart and check your sources whenever you can.

USA: YC’s recent Spring Demo Day heavily dominated by AI

Y Combinator, the world’s leading Accelerator program had their Spring Demo Day last Wednesday and nearly every presenting startup had something to do with AI — they’re either developing AI agents or creating tools to facilitate their development.

Startups presenting included:

• Cactus, an AI copilot for solopreneurs, which claims its AI bot can take off some of the load by answering calls and accepting payments on your behalf. 

• Sim Studios The open-source AI agent builder which wants to do for AI agents what Figma did for design: make them incredibly easy to build.

• Scalar Field, an AI-powered Bloomberg terminal, which claims to manipulate financial data with more flexibility than existing financial tools.

Though it wasn’t just AI on show, with Robotics Startups, such as Atum Works which build 3D chips also being a popular vertical. 

Why should you care: YC Startups are the cream of the global crop and generally a good indicator of future Startups trends. More AI dominance for us then…

Brazil: Supreme Court Moves to Hold Social Media Giants Accountable

In a landmark decision, Brazil’s Supreme Court has formed a majority to hold social media platforms liable for certain types of user-generated content deemed illegal. Six of the 11 justices voted in favour, paving the way for potential fines against social media companies that fail to remove unlawful posts. 

The ruling signals a shift from current law, which only penalises platforms if they fail to comply with a court order to remove content. The move comes amid rising concerns over online misinformation and follows months of legal debate. 

Source: Reuters 

Why should you care: The decision will have a direct impact on global tech giantsMeta, X, TikTok, and Google, all of which have major operations in Brazil’s market of over 200 million people and is a global precedent on illegal content. 

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Until next week, travel safe