Technology

Twitter announced today its Twitter Lite app is expanding to 21 more countries, which makes the data-saving app available to more than 45 countries in total. The app was introduced last year with the goal of bringing in more users from emerging markets to Twitter. Similar to other data-saving apps, like Facebook Lite or YouTube Go, Twitter Lite is designed to load faster on slower network connections, like 2G and 3G, and also has a smaller footprint, so it takes up less space on the phone.

The app was first launched as a test in the Philippines in September, before rolling out to a couple dozen more countries in November.

Twitterhope is that by addressing the needs of those low-bandwith users in international markets, the company could help increase its overall user base, which has remained fairly stagnant.

Today, the company is making the app available to 21 countries, including:Argentina, Belarus, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Romania, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

These join the other markets where Twitter Lite has been available, such as:Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, Nepal, Panama, Peru, Serbia, El Salvador, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Tanzania and Venezuela, in addition to the Philippines.

The app offers a variety of features for those on slower or unreliable networks. For example, Lite users can turn on a Data saver mode that allows them to control which images or video load when browsing the network. Once enabled, you can load this content by tapping &Load Image& or &Load video,& as needed.

The app is also under 3MB in size, so it will load more quickly on slower networks.

And like Twitter, the app includes features like Bookmarks, a darker &Night mode& theme, threads, and starting today, push notifications.

The company in November claimed Twitter Lite led to a greater than 50% increase in tweets, and noted that 80% of its then 330 million monthly users were outside the U.S. That percentage remains roughly the same & as of July, Twitter had a total of 335 million users, with 68 million of those in the U.S.

However, the company isn&t growing that quickly outside the U.S., despite Twitter Lite. Also as of July 2018, we noted the companyinternational audience had onlygrown by a modest 3.5% over the past year.

An expansion of the Twitter Lite app will certainly open up Twitter to more people, but itnot clear theremuch demand.

The app is available as a free download on Google Play.

Fourteen days. Thatwhat stands between you and the opportunity to showcase your early-stage startup at Disrupt San Francisco 2018, which takes place September 5-7. With more than 10,000 attendees expected to descend on Moscone Center West, can you afford to miss out on that kind of exposure

We think not. There are only two weeks left to secure your spot in Startup Alley — the very heart and soul of every Disrupt. Don&t wait, buy your Startup Alley Exhibitor Packagenow.

More than 400 media outlets will be among the attendees coursing through the Alley, perusing more than 1,200 early-stage startups and sponsors exhibiting a dazzling array of the latest — and future-forward — tech products, platforms and services. Itan atmosphere of opportunity, and thatnot just us bragging. Herewhat Vlad Larin, co-founder of Zeroqode, said about his Startup Alley experience.

&Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt was a massively positive experience. It gave us the chance to show our technology to the world and have meaningful conversations with investors, accelerators, incubators, solo founders and developers.&

Herewhat you get with a Startup Alley Exhibitor Package.

• Two founder passes for all three days of Disrupt SF 2018
• A one-day exhibit space
• Use of CrunchMatch — our curated investor-to-startup matching platform
• Access to Main Stage, The Next Stage, Q-A Stage, Showcase Stage
• All workshops
• Access to the attendee list; ability to message attendees within the Disrupt App
• Admittance to the TC After Party

Disrupt San Francisco takes place September 5-7. If you want to place your early-stage startup in front of thousands of influential technologists, investors, entrepreneurs and potential customers, Startup Alley is where you need to be. You have just two weeks left to get ‘er done. Buy your Startup Alley Exhibitor Package today.

Africastartup scene is growing by leaps and bounds, and three tech leaders are set to share insights on this vibrant space at Disrupt San Francisco.

Paga CEO Tayo Oviosu, Helios Investment Partners Vice President Fope Adelowoand Cellulant CEO Ken Njoroge will take the stage September 7 to discuss topics such as fintech, Africafounder experience, data privacy, VC investment and the continentfuture unicorn and IPO prospects.

Nearly two decades of improved stability, economic growth and reform have created some bright spots on the continent, rapid modernization and a growing technology scene among them.

Africa minted its first unicorn — e-commerce venture Jumia— in 2016, and over the last five years, just about every big-name U.S. tech company, including Facebook, Google and Netflix, has expanded there.

The continent now has 442 active tech hubs, accelerators and innovation spaces across IT hotspots in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Rwanda. Thousands of African startups are moving into every imaginable sector: from blockchain, logistics and education to healthcare and agriculture.

And hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital is flowing to these startups, with the expectation that some of their solutions for Africa1.2 billion people will produce significant ROI.

Two of those ventures are OviosuPaga and NjorogeCellulant. Paga has become one of Nigerialeading digital payments providers in a market where many people are just signing on to financial services. Since 2012 the company has processed 57 million transactions worth $3.6 billion, reached 9 million users and achieved profitability, according to Oviosu.

Cellulant — a Nairobi-headquartered pan-African payment startup — has also posted some impressive fintech stats. The company offersB2Band P2B services to clients that include some of the continentlargest banks. In 2017 Cellulantpayment platforms processed $2.7 billion across 33 countries, according to Njoroge. And in 2018 Cellulant raised one of the continentlargest VC rounds— $47.5 million — led by TPG GrowthRise Fund.

Paga and Cellulant have the potential to become early public African tech companies, and both Oviosu and Njoroge mentor younger startups as angel investors in their respective markets.

On IPO prospects, Helios Investment Partners& Fope Adelowo has been on the forefront of VC into Africabreakout startups. She serves asboard observer to two of the firmhigh-profile Africa investments, e-commerce site MallforAfrica and payments company Interswitch. MallforAfrica recently launched a global e-commerce site with DHL, and Interswitch said it plans to become one of the continentfirst tech IPOs on a major exchange by 2019.