B2B ecommerce and embedded finance platform TradeDepot has raised US$110 million in a Series B equity and debt funding round. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) led the Series B. Participating investors included Novastar, Sahel Capital, CDC Group, and Endeavor Catalyst. They were joined by existing investors, Partech and MSA Capital. The share of equity funding in the Series B stands at nearly US$42 million, according to TechCrunch. Meanwhile, Arcadia Funds provided the debt facility. The round will help TradeDepot scale its SME-focused buy now pay later (BNPL) service to five million retailers, and expand its merchant platform across Africa. More…

Saudi Arabia’s fintech sector has broadened, with licenses issued to 16 new fintech companies during the third quarter of this year (Zawya). According to the Saudi Central Bank governor, 13 of these companies come from the payments and electronic wallets sector, while the remaining three firms were engaged in insurance and finance. The news comes on the heels of a Fintech Saudi report published in October this year, which suggested that Saudi Arabia’s fintech companies grew by 37% in number this year, attracting record investments to the tune of SAR 1.3 billion (US$347 million). Further, payments companies secured 93% of…

As good news for Africa-based crypto exchanges, crypto has emerged as one of the top fintech trends across Africa this year despite wide regulatory disapproval of the trading of these currencies. Kenya, Nigeria, Togo, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania emerged as the top nations driving crypto adoption worldwide. Transaction volumes on P2P platforms also stood relatively high in Kenya and Nigeria. In sub-Saharan Africa, peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin trading volumes on global crypto platforms LocalBitcoins and Paxful were the highest in the world, while at Luno, African users dominated its newly added users this year. Meanwhile, local exchanges such as Yellow Card…

Although the fintech ecosystem in Tanzania has developed rapidly over the past decade, it remains nevertheless small and nascent with just 33 pure fintech players identified. Out of these companies, only 36% have managed to secure seed funding or growth financing, while 35% are still relying on bootstrapping funds from family and friends to support early-stage operations. These figures show that domestic fintech startups are still struggling to raise capital, hampering the development of the overall industry, an industry assessment by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNDF), the Tanzania Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Commission and startup accelerator Sahara…

The Bank of Tanzania, the country’s central bank, has announced plans to introduce its central bank digital currency, Bloomberg reported. The central bank is looking to bolster the capacity of its officials on central bank digital currencies, as well as its research capabilities in this space, the report cited central bank Governor Florens Luoga as saying. Elsewhere, Tanzania’s cautious stance towards cryptocurrencies remains in place, Luoga added. “To ensure that our country is not left behind the adoption of central bank digital currencies, the Bank of Tanzania has already begun preparations to have its own central bank digital currency,” Luoga…

Nigeria’s startup funding reached approximately US$417.5 million in nine months, and a lion’s share of this came from fintech (Punch). The funding total already beats the US$300 million these companies raised last year (fintech companies dominated Nigeria’s startup funding in 2020 as well). About 91% of this near-half-billion capital pool came from fintech companies. Edtech, healthtech and communications companies contributed the remaining 9%. From the current vantage point, fintech investments alone are expected to surpass US$400 million this year, while revenues are expected to grow to US$543 million in 2022. Some of the biggest African fintech startups have already contributed…

In today’s funding update, a crypto exchange, a fintech API platform and an MSME lender have raised seven-figure investment rounds across pre-seed and seed stage deals in Africa. The deals indicate that very early stage deals remain popular for fintech companies across the African continent, despite a number of mega rounds and unicorn valuations raised this year. Crypto exchange Busha raised US$4.2 million seed funding Nigeria-based crypto exchange Busha, founded in 2019, has raised US$4.2 million in a seed funding round. The funding will be used to scale beyond Nigeria across the rest of West Africa and other African regions,…

Specialist development agency Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa is set to be launching its insurtech accelerator program in Ghana and Nigeria in 2022. The agency will be launching its BimaLab Insurtech Accelerator Program in the two West African countries next year, according to TechCrunch. The launch comes after FSD Africa kickstarted it’s insurtech accelerator in Kenya just this year. The KES 5.3 million BimaLab accelerator was launched in July through a partnership with Kenya’s Insurance Regulatory Authority and Tellistic Technology Services. The second cohort of the 10-week Kenya program graduated last week. FSD Africa was established in 2012 and is…

African fintech hubs have grown rapidly in the past few years, leading to pockets of fintech development across the continent. According to Findexable’s Global Fintech Rankings Report, 14 of the top Middle East and African fintech hubs came from the African continent. These included the usual suspects, but more interestingly, seven of these fintech hubs were new additions. Rwanda, Seychelles, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Cameroon and Ethiopia all made it to the Findexable index for the first time. On Fintech News Africa, we’ve previously talked about the three biggest African fintech hubs. They were South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. In addition…

African fintech companies have had a year like no other when it comes to funding. Between Q1 and Q3 this year, African fintech companies raised US$1.44 billion in funding dollars. The funding total surpassed the entire amount raised by these companies across the past decade, where they raised a total of US$1.06 billion. Now, African fintech companies are now expected to raise close to US$3 billion by the end of the year. In fact, the funding total year to date November 2021 nearly reached US$2 billion. Of this, US$1.3 billion was raised by eight companies alone. Aside from local investors,…

In a tech solutions crossover last week, Enel X and Mastercard have launched a ‘FinSec Innovation Lab’ — a lab that focuses on cybersecurity capabilities for Israeli fintech companies — in Israel. The FinSec Innovation Lab will create state-of-the-art environments to simulate real world situations based on actual data, so Israeli fintech and cybersecurity-related startups can test new products along with the support of both Israeli and international mentors, a statement said. It is also aimed at integrating startup solutions in the Enel X Financial Services business portfolio, CEO Francesco Venturini said. Enel X is the smart energy services arm…

Singapore-headquartered payments network Thunes and US-based cross border payments company UniTeller have announced a partnership to expand UniTeller’s services globally, according to a recent statement. Thunes and UniTeller will be working on extending UniTeller’s solutions to over 20 international markets in Africa and the Asia Pacific region, the statement said. “Our partnership with Thunes marks an important milestone as we strive towards improving the access of communities across emerging markets by expanding our technology solutions in Africa and Asia Pacific,” Alberto Guerra, CEO of UniTeller, said about the partnership. UniTeller is a global remittance and payment processing service provider, providing…

Ozow, a South Africa-based payments company, has raised US$48 million in a Series B round of funding, according to a company announcement. The round was led by Chinese Internet giant Tencent, along with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest Fund. Funding will be used to develop the company’s product suite and support expansion in new markets in Africa. This includes a focus on developing new products, as well as strategic investments, including mergers and acquisitions. Further, Ozow is also looking to boost hiring at its Europe office, and commit funds to its expansion in Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Abu Dhabi’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) have completed a first-of-its-kind digital cross-border trade finance document transfer (Fintech Futures). This makes the initiative the world’s first cross-border digital trade financing pilot, a statement said. A ‘TradeTrust’ framework developed by Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in Singapore facilitated the pilot transfer between MAS and Abu Dhabi Global Market’s (ADGM) regulatory body FSRA. DBS Bank, Emirates NBD and Standard Chartered also worked on the project as commercial partners. Legally, the pilot was backed by a UN affiliate-developed Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR). Both…

Financial inclusion is on the developmental agenda in Egypt, and fintech startups in Egypt are one of the key driving forces to achieve this kind of adoption. Digital payments is expected to be the most benefited vertical within the fintech segment, and is forecast to reach US$19.4 billion by 2025. Neobanking and digital investments are further behind, but still in the billion-dollar territory. There are a handful of encouraging from the regulatory perspective that fintech startups in Egypt can also look forward to. For instance, a new law was introduced in March this year to allow the country’s central bank…

Global crypto adoption is being propelled by emerging markets, and crypto in Africa is at the forefront of this. As of August this year, peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin trading volumes in sub-Saharan Africa on crypto trading platforms LocalBitcoins and Paxful crossed US$18 million, the highest in the world (surpassing trading volumes in North America for the first time). At Luno, another crypto trading platform, African users represent 45% of the one million customers it newly added since June this year. Meanwhile, pan-African crypto exchange Yellow Card raised US$15 million in a Series A round this year to boost expansion. In Congo,…

In another big round this week, pan-African digital payments gateway MFS Africa has secured US$100 million in a Series C equity and debt round, the company announced in a statement. The financing is split US$70 million for equity and US$30 million from debt, according to a TechCrunch report. It brings the total equity funding raised so far by the company to US$95 million, in addition to the US$30 million debt funding. The round was co-led by new investor AfricInvest FIVE, alongside existing backers Goodwell Investments and LUN Partners. Participating investors included CommerzVentures, Allan Gray Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Endeavor Harvest and…

Over 500 fintech startups across multiple categories and counting. Nearly US$900 million raised in capital in the last 7 years, twice the amount garnered by any other African tech sector. And thousands of adopters with millions still yet to be served. The meteoric rise of fintech in Africa is transforming lives and economies, unleashing innovation, bolstering trade and propelling an upsurge of financial inclusion across the continent. Africa Fintech Summit 2021 brings together the innovators, financial executives, entrepreneurs, investors, global corporations, and policymakers driving the ongoing growth of fintech in Africa and shaping the future of digital commerce and technology…

Fintech companies in Nigeria are at the forefront of Africa’s fintech revolution, and many of them have turned out to become formidable players to watch out for. Last year, fintech companies in Nigeria picked up a majority of the funding that came into the country, with 44% of the total startup funding deals. Adoption of digital financial services is also growing steadily. In 2019 for instance, US$256 billion was transferred electronically, up from US$48 billion in 2014. As of 2020, it is estimated that there were over 200 fintech companies in Nigeria. Further, by 2022, the country’s fintech sector is…

South Africa-headquartered AI-based banking-as-a-service platform Jumo announced in a statement that it has raised US$120 million from new and existing backers. The round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, an investment advisory firm owned by the Johnson family, who run the Fidelity empire. This marks the firm’s first venture investment in an emerging markets-focused fintech company, the statement said. Visa and Kingsway also participated in the round. The round raises Jumo’s total funding to about US$200 million so far. Its previous backers include Leapfrog, Goldman Sachs, Finnfund, Proparco, Vostok Emerging Finance and Brook Asset Management. Funding will be…