Amazon Web Services (AWS) is calling for applications from early-stage startups to join its inaugural edition of the AWS Fintech Africa Accelerator. Applications open from now until 27 April 2023. Hosted by AWS’ Startup Loft Accelerator, this is an equity-free programme designed to work directly with CEO’s and CTO’s in enabling them with a wide variety of resources including strategy, tech team management, product development, and helping founders prepare for navigating the complexities of fundraising. Participating startups will join AWS’ Activate programme which will provide founders with up to US$25,000 in Activate Credits, in addition to a many other services.…

Money Q Fintech Solutions, a Dubai-based fintech startup, announces its plans to expand its services in the African market with its in-house customisable semi-closed loop digital wallet, KrosPayz, and international money remittance system, KrosRemit. Founded in 2020 and registered at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Money Q aims to empower African citizens by providing them with access to essential financial services through digital means, regardless of the mobile device they use. With a vision to make KrosPayz accessible to every smartphone and feature phone user, Money Q’s digital wallet offers a range of services, including domestic and international airtime…

The African Development Bank has invested US$170 million in the newly-launched Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme which aims to create 6 million new jobs for young Nigerians. Other partners in the programme include the French government which will contribute €100 million (US$116 million) through the Agence Française de Développement and the Islamic Development Bank which is expected to provide an additional US$70 million once it receives board approval. Meanwhile, the Nigerian government will provide US$45 million in counterpart funding through its executing agency, the Bank of Industry. Other institutional and private sector investors are also expected to provide…

In Africa, fintech maintains its position as the most dynamic and fastest-growing startup segment, attracting the lion’s share in startup funding and dominating other categories in terms of unicorn count, new reports by local media and information services platforms show. A report by Africa-focused tech information platform Afridigest, released on February 11, looks at the continent’s unicorn startups, revealing that out of the seven billion-dollar companies present in Africa as of February 2023, six are fintech companies. These companies primarily target the African market, and include both those headquartered in the continent and overseas. Most operate in the digital payment…

Smile Identity, a provider of digital identity verification solutions for Africa, has secured $20 million in Series B funding. The round was co-led by Costanoa and Norrsken22. Additional new investments came from Commerce Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Two Culture Capital, and Latitude. Existing investors Valuestream Ventures, Intercept Ventures and Future Africa also joined the round. Lexi Novitske from Norrsken22 will also be joining our Board. This follows their Series A, which brings their total funding to over $30 million. In the past year, the company doubled their customer base and tripled revenues. As highlighted in tjeor 2022 annual KYC report, Smile…

Nigerian payments company Flutterwave announced that it has received its Payment Services Provider and Payments Facilitator licenses in Egypt. This will enable Flutterwave to collect payments on behalf of its customers and settle payments locally and globally. The company will now be able to deploy Flutterwave for Business suite of products including store, payment links, invoices, checkout in Egypt. Flutterwave facilitates cross-border transactions in multiple currencies for global companies, including Uber, and the new licenses will help the company support international businesses entering the Egyptian market or growing their operations in the country. Aalaa Gamal, Regional Manager, North Africa in…

Partech, a global technology investment firm, announces the first closing of Partech Africa II at €245M, already above the target fund size. This second iteration of Partech’s Africa-focused strategy is backed by major Development Finance Institutions, as well as Institutional and Commercial investors. Partech Africa II will double-down on its successful strategy to identify and support the next generation of category leaders across the continent. The Fund will provide $1M to $15M initial tickets from Seed to Growth to support entrepreneurs who use a combination of technology and excellent operations to address some of the hard-to-solve but very large opportunities…

In 2022, fintech remained the most funded startup sector in Africa, accounting for 39% of all equity funding (US$1.9 billion) and 45% of the total debt volume (US$691 million), data from venture capital (VC) firm Partech show. The figures were revealed in the newly released 2022 Africa Tech Venture Capital report, an analysis that looks at the state of the continent’s startup ecosystem and shares emerging trends and funding metrics. According to the report, a total of 217 fintech equity deals were secured in 2022 in Africa, representing a 31% market share and making the sector the most dynamic one…

Africa’s fintech industry experienced growth in 2022, witnessing large financing rounds being closed, startups reaching unicorn status and innovative solutions gaining customer traction. The momentum positions the region’s fintech sector for further growth and success in the coming year, a new report by Financial Technology (FT) Partners says. In a report titled Fintech in Africa: Momentum is Building and the World is Taking Notice, the fintech-focused investment bank looks back at the growth of the fintech landscape in Africa and trends emerging in 2022, sharing predictions for the year to come. According to the report, 2022 saw some setbacks in…

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is booming – some experts predict it could grow by up to 400% in the next few years. BNPL products have gone from interesting new option to a household staple in recent years. And, like any emerging market, the products and the regulations that govern providers are evolving quickly. As BNPL providers take bigger and bigger bites out of the US$8 trillion credit card industry, both credit card providers and innovative startups are taking notice. To compete and thrive, BNPL providers need technology that doesn’t just get them to market quickly, but that also prepares…

Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan announced that it has raised up to US$400 million in equity and debt financing, pushing its valuation to over US$1 billion. The funds came from Chimera Abu Dhabi which has invested more than US$200 million in equity in exchange for over 20% of the company. Additionally, MNT-Halan said that it is in advanced stages with other unnamed international investors to raise US$60 million of primary capital. This follows a US$120 million investment in Q3 2021 by other major global and regional growth investors, including Development Partners International (DPI), Apis Growth Fund II, and Lorax Capital Partners. The…

In Nigeria, agricultural technology (agritech) entrepreneurs are leveraging technology and digital platforms to help tackle the massive funding gap faced by small and medium-sized agriculture businesses. This burgeoning sector is attracting the interest of funders and gaining support from organizations from across the globe who’ve been eager to back some of the region’s most innovative ventures. Just last month, ThriveAgric bagged the grand prize of the 2022 Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) and was recognized for its ingenuity in applying technology to solving agricultural challenges. VEI is a global open innovation program which seeks to uncover the world’s most innovative startups…

In Kenya, fintech has emerged as the country’s most prevalent tech startup sub-sector, accounting for 30.2% of all young tech companies in the nation and employing most of the ecosystem’s staff, a new report by Disrupt Africa, a local media and information platform focused on the continent’s tech startup ecosystem, says. According to the Kenyan Startup Ecosystem Report 2022, a report released earlier this month that looks at the country’s startup ecosystem and its evolution over the past year, at least 308 tech startups operated in Kenya, as of November 2022. Among these, 93 companies were fintech startups, a figure…

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has launched its Financial Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025, a national development plan focusing on expanding access to financial services, developing financial literacy and facilitating the introduction of innovative financial products that meet consumers as well as micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)’ needs. Released in November, the strategy focuses on increasing the use of digital financial services, and establishing a conducive environment for fintech innovation. The CBE said it will also encourage entrepreneurship, facilitate the integration of startups into the formal economy, and provide MSMEs with access to key resources, including financial services. No further…

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has launched a new US$225 million venture capital platform to invest in early stage companies in Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, and Pakistan. According to the IFC, these regions collectively received less than two percent of the US$643 billion in global venture capital funding in 2021. Furthermore, tech ecosystems outside of the region’s more established markets such as Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, and South Africa are either nascent or nonexistent. Through the new platform, the IFC will make equity or equity-like investments in tech startups and help them grow into scalable ventures that can…

The African fintech sector is gaining interest from global investors. Recently, Algerian super app Yassir announced that it had raised US$150 million in Series B funding – making it North Africa’s most significant funding to date.  Participating investors led by growth-stage VC firm BOND include DN Capital, Dorsal Capital, Quiet Capital, Stanford Alumni Ventures (aka Spike Ventures), Y Combinator, and more. This is in line with the trend of the industry looking to unleash the potential of fintechs in the continent with 56 countries. In 2021, a Mastercard study found fintech startups in Africa grew by 81 percent and recorded…

Ethiopia’s Hibret Bank has partnered with Mastercard to launch Hibir e-commerce, a digital payments platform for Ethiopian businesses to accept international card payments for online purchases. The platform, enabled by Mastercard Payment Gateway Services, allows businesses and merchants to accept Mastercard and other branded payment cards from customers based outside of the country. Hibir e-commerce will also ensure that merchants get paid in foreign currency for online sales without having to go through the usual lengthy payment settlement process. The new e-commerce solution aligns with Hibret Bank’s 2030 strategy to create a mutually beneficial payment ecosystem with international cardholders and…

South Africa’s Vodacom Group is planning to launch its Alipay-enabled financial services app VodaPay in Egypt, according to a Bloomberg interview with Vodacom’s CEO Shameel Joosub. The launch comes after the mobile communication company obtains the necessary approvals to acquire its parent company Vodafone Group’s stake in Vodafone Egypt for US$2.7 billion. Vodacom first announced that it was partnering with Alibaba’s Alipay to create a financial services “super app” in South Africa in July 2020. The app was then launched in October 2021. VodaPay is described as a digital shopping, lifestyle and financial platform for consumers and businesses. The app…

Mobile money company MFS Africa has partnered with crypto solutions provider Ripple to streamline real-time mobile payments for its customers across 35 countries. The partnership will see MFS Africa utilising Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution to reduce bottlenecks associated with sending money across borders via legacy payment rails. Ripple does this by allowing companies to perform transactions without the need for correspondent banking relationships or the pre-funding of accounts abroad. Founded in 2009, MFS Africa is one of the most well-funded fintech companies in the region. The company was also one of five African companies which made CB Insights’ Fintech…

Egyptian consumer credit platform Blnk has raised US$23.7 million in equity and debt funding, and US$8.3 million in securitised bond issuance underwritten by National Bank of Egypt and Banque du Caire. The US$12.5 million equity round was led by Abu Dhabi’s Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC) and Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, while the US$11.2 million debt funding was from local banks. Launched in October 2021, Blnk’s digital lending platform enables merchants of all sizes to instantly underwrite and finance their customers’ purchases at the point of sale. With only a National ID and in as little as three minutes, consumers can…