African banking group Ecobank Group has announced the six finalists for the fifth edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge, chosen from a pool of 700 applicants in 59 countries. Finalists will undergo a mentoring programme to explore funding opportunities and rolling out products in other countries, and access Ecobank’s sandbox to test and develop products for a larger market. This year’s edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge is sponsored by investment firm Arise, and organised in collaboration with Global Finder, TechCabal, Africa Fintech Network and Konfidants. The six finalists will compete for the top prize of US$50,000 at the grand…

Nigeria is home to the largest number of startups and startup funding rounds in the last decade in Africa with 383 startups securing over US$2 billion from 2015 to 2022 — a large part of which involve fintech startups, according to the latest Disrupt Africa Nigerian Startup Ecosystem Report. At least 481 tech startups were in operation across Nigeria as of September 2022. Fintech startups accounted for one-third of them, employing 8,653 people at an average of 50 per startup. Six of the 10 biggest employers in the Nigerian startup ecosystem are fintech companies: RenMoney (892), Cowrywise (570), Flutterwave (541), TeamApt…

Nigerian telco Globacom, commonly known as Glo, has officially launched its new mobile payments and banking business MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank (PSB). The subsidiary was first established in 2019. It then received a payment service bank license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in August 2020 before commencing operations in May 2022. MoneyMaster will deliver its financial services through G-Kala, a platform and mobile app providing mobile wallet, bank account, mobile payments and other solutions for individuals and businesses. G-Kala also allows for the digital transfer of electronic money from person to person, person to business, and business to…

Uganda digital lending platform Numida has raised a US$12.3 million pre-Series A funding round led by Serena Williams’ venture firm Serena Ventures. Breega, 4Di Capital, Launch Africa, Soma Capital, MFS Africa, and Y Combinator participated in the US$7.3 million equity portion, while Lendable contributed the US$5 million debt portion. This is the first investment in Uganda for all of these firms except mobile money giant MFS Africa which led the company’s US$2.3 million seed round in April 2021. The new funding will enable the company to double its active client base to 40,000 in the next 18 months and expand…

Five African fintech startups made this year’s Fintech 250, CB Insights’ annual list of the 250 most promising private fintech companies in the world. The 250 winners were selected from a pool of over 12,500 eligible private companies based on CB Insights’ internal benchmarks as well as analyst briefings submitted by applicants. Factors that were taken into account include funding, market potential, business relationships, investor profile, news sentiment analysis, competitive landscape, team strength, and tech novelty. According to CB Insights, globalisation is a key theme for this year’s Fintech 250 with winners headquartered in 33 countries across the globe —…

Nigerian financial services company ProvidusBank has partnered with Mastercard, African payments infrastructure provider Interswitch, and French technology company Thales Group to introduce a new Tap-to-Pay contactless payment service in the country. The new service allows users to make in-store payments without using a card by tapping their smartphone or wearable device at any contactless-enabled payment terminal. The solution leverages Mastercard’s Digital Enablement Service (MDES), and Interswitch’s tokenisation capability to replace primary account numbers with tokens, thus providing a more secure and seamless checkout experience. To use the service, customers will need to first digitise their card by following the instructions…

Identity verification platform iiDENTIFii has raised a US$15 million Series A funding round led by African investment company Arise, with Sanari Capital and angel investor Bill Spruill. iiDENTIFii’s biometric authentication technology enables identity verification through cellphones and computers. The solution is used by businesses for both customer and employee authentication. The company, whose clients include Standard Bank, Absa and Investec Bank, will use the investment to fund its expansion across Africa. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Cape Town, iiDENTIFii also won the recent KPMG Private Enterprise Tech Innovator in Africa Award 2022. “We’re excited to put the investment to…

Africa’s fintech sector is booming, fueled by soaring venture capital (VC) funding activity, rising adoption of digital financial services among both consumers and businesses, and increasing efforts from governments to improve financial inclusion. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of technology startups in the continent tripled to around 5,200 companies, with just under half of these being fintech companies. Last year, these ventures raised a record of US$2 billion, according to Crunchbase data, up 770% from 2020’s US$230 million. To get a sense of the continent’s up-and-coming fintech leaders, we’ve compiled a list of the top eight most well-funded fintech…

Ivory Coast-based payments company Julaya has raised a US$5 million extension round led by European venture capital fund Speedinvest to expand its operations in West Africa. EQ2 Ventures, Kibo Ventures, angel syndicates Unpopular Ventures and Jedar Capital, as well as previous investors Orange Ventures, Saviu, and 50 Partners also invested in the round. Julaya is a B2B digital platform that enables companies to send and collect payments through a digital account, including features such as remote cash collection and company debit cards. More than 500 businesses including Africa’s e-commerce giant Jumia use Julaya as their digital account to pay their…

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced that it has awarded licenses to 10 digital credit providers out of the 288 applicants who responded to its call for applications in March 2022. The announcement stated that all digital credit companies who did not apply for a license must cease providing such services immediately following the 17 September 2022 application deadline. The 10 licensed digital credit providers in Kenya are: More information could not be found/confirmed on the remaining two licensees:

Chat commerce platform Clickatell has partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to launch a USSD channel for the eNaira to enable Nigerians to access their eNaira wallet without the need for mobile data. The new USSD channel allows Nigerians using the *997# short code to create their eNaira wallet. Once this is done, they can check balances and transfer funds, as well as buy airtime or data for themselves or friends and family. Unstructured Supplementary Service Data or USSD, is a communications protocol supported by 99% of GSM handsets which remains particularly relevant in developing communities. The CBN…

African cryptocurrency platform Yellow Card Financial has raised US$40 million in Series B funding led by Polychain Capital. Other investors in the round included Valar Ventures, Third Prime Ventures, Sozo Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Fabric Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, The Raba Partnership, and others. The platform, which was first launched in Nigeria in 2019, now serves 16 countries with its latest additions being Gabon, Senegal, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since raising its US$15 million Series A in August 2021, the company has also launched a crypto cross-border transfer service and surpassed one million customers in March…

Brazilian payments company EBANX announced plans to expand its operations and payments solutions outside Latin America for the first time to Africa, with a focus on South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. The three countries are said to account for 32 percent of Africa’s population, 51 percent of its GDP, and 73 percent of the startup accelerators active in the continent today. Founded in 2012, EBANX currently operates in 15 Latin American countries. It also serves as workflow management platform Pipefy’s payments partner in the African region. EBANX previously announced that it secured US$400 million in funding from Advent International and…

Flutterwave merchants can now process payments in eNaira, the Nigerian digital currency issued and distributed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The self-service payment method is available to all Flutterwave merchants who want to collect Nigerian Naira (NGN) from customers who have the eNaira app. Merchants who use this payment method will be charged a 1.4% fee per transaction, capped at 2000 Naira for merchants in Nigeria. The company was granted a switching and processing license earlier this month and raised a US$250 million Series D in February with a valuation of over US$3 billion. According to Nigeria’s central bank…

African fintech companies have made significant inroads into the market over these past couple of years, with revenues reaching US$4 billion to US$6 billion in 2020 and average penetration levels of between 3 and 5% (excluding South Africa), an McKinsey analysis shows. That momentum is projected to continue on with fintech revenues expected to grow eight times their current value to reach US$30 billion by 2025. These estimates are provided that the sector overall reaches similar levels of those seen in Kenya, a country with one of the highest levels of fintech penetration in the world, and take into consideration…

Payments company Flutterwave has been granted a Switching and Processing License by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The switching and processing license allows Flutterwave to enable transactions between banks, fintechs and other financial institutions. The company can also process card transactions, participate in agency banking and offer various payment services without any intermediary. Prior to this license, Flutterwave operated with its Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licenses. Flutterwave stressed that the application and review process by the CBN was a tough and rigorous process that examined every aspect of Flutterwave’s business, including the…

Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele says the second phase of the eNaira project has begun and is intended to drive financial inclusion by onboarding unbanked and underserved users leveraging offline channels. Nigerians will be able to open an eNaira wallet and conduct transactions by simply dialling *997 from their mobile phones under phase two. Furthermore, merchants and consumers with bank accounts will be able to use the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) to transfer and receive eNaira to any bank account. “The second phase of the project has begun and is intended to drive financial inclusion by onboarding…

Fintech Challenge offers early stage and mature start-ups the potential to partner with Ecobank across 33 African countries; Applications open until 16 September. Pan-African banking group, Ecobank Group, has launched the fifth edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge and encourages African Fintech entrepreneurs to enter the competition. Fintechs that are aligned with the Bank’s strategic objectives stand a chance to win an overall cash prize of US$50,000 for the top winner and the opportunity to partner and scale their solutions across Ecobank’s 33 African markets. Fintech companies and developers originating from any of Africa’s 54 countries, as well as global Africa-centered…

Following a successful pilot implementation, Bank of Ghana launched now its Regulatory and Innovation Sandbox developed in collaboration with EMTECH Solutions. This is in line with the Bank’s commitment to continuously evolve a conducive regulatory environment that fosters innovation, financial inclusion and financial stability. Over the past two years and during the pilot, the use of digital financial services among Ghanaians has recorded a remarkable increase on account of a raft of enabling policies introduced by the Bank and the Government of Ghana under the national digitalization agenda. At the same time, the restrictions imposed on the movement of persons…

Bizao, a fintech that facilitates payments for both local and international businesses operating in Africa, announces an €8 million series A funding to accelerate its geographical footprint across the continent and invest in the design of new lines of products and services. Launched in 2019, Bizao facilitates, in a transparent and secure manner, the processing of end-to-end payment flows to and from the main digital payment systems in Africa (airtime, mobile money wallets, credit card). Within 3 years, Bizao has expanded its operations in 10 African countries (Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tunisia, Togo,…