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LILLII RNB CLOSES $3M SEED ROUND WITH FUNDING FROM SERENA VENTURES AND APERTURE VENTURES CAPITAL TO ACCELERATE GROWTH
Lillii RNB Inc., a retail fraud detection, prevention, and data services firm, today announced the closing of its $3 million seed round co-led by Serena Ventures and Aperture Venture Capital. Lillii RNB’s proprietary Returns Management and Total Retail Loss platform, Freeing ReturnsTM, assists retailers in optimizing their returns processes and identifying fraud and loss that is hidden in their own data. Lillii RNB’s mission is to greatly reduce the over $400B in retail loss that retailers experience each year.

CALICO ATTRACTS SERENA WILLIAMS TO $2.1M SEED TO BUILD
FASHION SUPPLY CHAIN SOFTWARE
A few years ago Kathleen Chan, the CEO and founder of Calico, launched a couple of small fashion companies, but as those companies scaled quickly with the help of Shopify and Facebook ads, she noted a lack of tools to help her manage the back office of a business specifically geared to fashion.

WEB3 STARTUP NESTCOIN RAISES $6.45M IN PRE-SEED CAPITAL TO MAKE CRYPTO MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR AFRICA
Nestcoin, a global web3 startup, has raised $6.45 million in pre-seed capital, according to a press release. The Nigeria-based company aims to make crypto accessible primarily in frontier markets and their new funding will go toward their mission.

CREDIT BUILDING STARTUP ESUSU REACHES UNICORN STATUS, GIVING BOOST TO BOTH DIVERSE FOUNDERS AND RENTERS
With a $130 million Series B announced this morning, credit building platform Esusu broke the billion-dollar valuation barrier, making it one of the few startups with a Black founder to reach unicorn status. In the last decade, less than 2% of the unicorns that have emerged in the U.S. have Black founders.
