MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa had a substantial win in Nigeria last week, after the two mobile money players won conditional approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to offer mobile banking services. MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa still have to wait for final approval, which Airtel expects will come through within six months of them fulfilling certain regulatory conditions. The approval will let MTN MoMo and Airtel’s Smartcash to provide a range of banking services. This includes the ability to accept deposits and withdrawals, issue debit and prepaid cards, and provide digital wallet and remittance services in Nigeria. The…

Nigeria-based SME lending startup Payhippo has secured US$3 million in a seed funding round, according to a statement by the company. The round was led by a number of African founders leading some of the continent’s biggest fintech companies. They included Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, co-founders Chipper Cash (which recently raised US$150 million Series C), Flutterwave founder Olugbenga Agboola, Bolaji Balogun, CEO of Chapel Hill Denham, and founder of Metis Capital Partners Hakeem Belo-Osagie. Other investors in the round included angels from Paystack, Brex, and Tala, limited partners from Payhippo’s pre-seed round, and institutional investors TEN13, VentureSouq, and Prodigio…

The sixth Africa Fintech Summit (AFTS) will take place at the St. Regis hotel in Cairo, Egypt on November 16, 2021. The Summit takes place as the world heals and evolves from the COVID-19 pandemic, and as Africa’s fintech industry begins to hit its inflection point of growth and accelerate its worldwide relevance. This event will bring together over 70+ different speakers and is expected to garner the largest AFTS audience ever. This past year saw a wave of progress for countless African fintechs, from America’s Stripe acquiring Paystack, to the inclusion of Chipper Cash, Flutterwave, and Fawry into the…

Pan-African cross-border payments company Chipper Cash has secured US$150 million in an extension to its Series C, TechCrunch reported. The round was led by Bahamian-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX. This is FTX’s first investment play in Africa. Participating investors included existing backers SVB Capital, Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos Expeditions, One Way Ventures and Tribe Capital. New investors also took part in the round but were unnamed, the report said. The Series C extension comes on the heels of the company’s US$100 million Series C fundraise in May this year, led by SVB Capital. Chipper Cash becomes Africa’s sixth fintech unicorn…

Saudi Arabia’s fintech ecosystem is thriving to say the least. In last week’s fintech news, a new report pointed out that Saudi fintech companies raised a three-figure total of US$157.2 million between January and August this year. Compare this to the annual total of US$7.8 million last year, or US$18 million raised in 2019. Here’s some more data to give context: – One in every four funding deals in Saudi Arabia during H1 2021 went to a fintech company. – At a CAGR of 40%, fintech venture investment in Saudi Arabia from 2017 to 2021 beat the MENA average by…

Striving to become a hotbed for fintech innovation, Mauritius’ Budget 2021-2022 has laid out a series a new measures to stimulate further growth in the sector. These measures include the setting up of an Open Lab by the Bank of Mauritius (BoM) for banking and payment solutions, as well as the establishment of Fintech Innovation Lab by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to encourage an entrepreneurship culture. BoM will also be rolling out, on a pilot basis, the Digital Rupee, a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). BoM governor Harvesh Seegolam indicated in August that the central bank had benefited…

South African microfinance company Barko is looking to launch a digital bank using banking infrastructure by banking software provider Temenos, according to a statement released today. The statement noted that the 1996-founded micro financing institution has plans to introduce a retail digital bank in South Africa built on front-to-back services by Temenos. These include the Temenos Transact core banking software, as well as The Temenos Banking Cloud. The company aims to launch a digital banking solution for South Africans that are underserved by the traditional banking system. This includes “longer-term and lower-cost loans, competitive affordable banking products and easy to…

In the context of digital banks in Africa, two challenger banks have clearly made their mark. One of these is the 2019-launched TymeBank from South Africa. TymeBank is the biggest digital bank in Africa by funding, having raised about US$169 million (according to Crunchbase). Of this, around US$109 million came from a funding round that took place earlier this year. TymeBank holds a commercial banking license. The company, part of Singapore-headquartered Tyme group, is on the map for being one of the fastest growing digital banks not just in Africa, but worldwide. With an average of 110,000 new customers every…

Nigeria officially rolled out its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira, on October 25. This makes it the first country in the African continent to officially allow the use of a CBDC as legal tender. Originally scheduled for an October 1 launch, the roll out was delayed at the last moment, on September 30. The delay was reportedly due to a reassessment of potential users, with the eNaira website averaging 2.8 million daily visits pre-launch, Nairametrics reported. Accordingly, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) changed its estimation of potential users to 10x more than the original figure. Reuters reported…

A new study has found that governments in six African countries have been spying on citizens through the use of technology (The Conversation). Governments in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Sudan have been surveilling citizens, either through legal loopholes or illegally. This is according to a research paper by Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. These governments were closely watching political opponents, business rivals and peaceful activists. Meanwhile, the mass surveillance of citizens was also taking place, the report suggests. “Governments are purposefully using laws that lack clarity. Or they ignore laws completely in order to carry…

MSME lending startup Asante Financial Services Group announced that it has raised US$7.5 million in the first tranche of its Series A fundraise. The round was led by Goodwell Investments with participation by investors including Sorenson Impact Foundation and Forsage Holdings. This is the 20th investment made under the uMunthu fund by Goodwell Investments. Half of the fund is invested in financial inclusion ventures. The funding will be used to scale Asante’s credit offerings in Kenya and Uganda, and expand its presence to Nigeria and Rwanda. The company is currently testing a Business Lending Platform, which comes with solutions such as a Business…

Global consumer financing app Tala has raised US$145 million in a Series E round, the startup announced recently. The funding was led by California-based AI lending platform Upstart. Participating investors included new investors Stellar Development Foundation, Kindred Ventures and the J. Safra Group. They were joined by existing investors IVP, Revolution Growth, PayPal Ventures, and Lowercase Capital. The Series E round takes the 2011-founded company’s total capital haul to over US$350 million. Upstart Co-founder Paul Gu, and Stellar Development Foundation’s CEO and Executive Director Denelle Dixon will now be on Tala’s board following the fundraise. Tala is working on a…

This week marked a new win for digital banks in Nigeria. Neobank Sparkle raised US$3.1 million in a seed round for expansion efforts (TechCrunch). Founded by former CEO of Diamond Bank Uzoma Dozie, Sparkle provides both individual and business banking services. It is licensed in Nigeria as a micro financing bank. The seed round was led by Leadway Assurance, along with participation from Trium Network and undisclosed high-net-worth individuals. The investment comes after Sparkle closed a friends and family pre-seed round of US$2 million within the past year. Funding will be used towards building a robotic automation system for repetitive…

Sudan-based ecommerce platform alsoug has closed a US$5 million (SDG 2.2 billion) fundraise, according to an announcement. The company is looking to use the funds to build a national payments network Cashi. Cashi will be enabled for deposits, withdrawals and transfers, as well as digital transactions. Egyptian payments giant Fawry and a consortium of Western venture capital funds co-led the round, the statement said. This is Fawry’s debut investment outside of Egypt, and the company will be providing support to alsoug to build its payments infrastructure through in-house technology and experience. Fawry founder and CEO Ashraf Sabry noted that the…

Lagos-headquartered open banking startup Mono has raised US$15 million in a Series A. The round was led by Flutterwave’s backer Tiger Global. Participating investors included a mix of new backers Target Global (which also invested in Kuda Bank), General Catalyst, and SBI Investment, alongside previous investors Entree Capital, Lateral Capital, GPIC, Acuity VC, and Ingressive Capital. The funding brings Mono’s total capital pool to US$17.6 million, the company said. Prior to the Series A, Mono has also raised US$500,000 in a pre-seed round in September last year, and a US$2.1 million seed round from Y Combinator in January this year…

In last week’s MEA fintech news, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has once again hinted that it will be keeping a close watch on fintech startups in the country. At a recent seminar, Director of the Banking Supervision Department of CBN Mustapha Haruna said that the CBN would continue monitoring fintechs in the country (Nairametrics). Haruna added that the CBN was keen to manage the associated risks of fintech services, including the “threat to consumer data protection.” “While we may not exactly eliminate these threats, we must ensure that we are able to minimise those threats to consumers and…

In last week’s MEA fintech news, mobile money took centre stage once again in the African continent. Meanwhile, UAE sees some funding and M&A activity, Egyptian banks launch a fintech fund, and a Nigerian startup raises US$10 million. Mobile money continues to pioneer payments in sub-Saharan Africa Mobile money is a driving force behind the growth of Africa’s fintech space, and especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Mobile money accounts in the region have grown 11x between 2011 and 2020, accounting for over half of the world’s 310 live mobile money services. Moreover, at least 11 countries in the region feature five…

Verto, a Nigeria-based B2B payments startup,  has raised US$10 million in a Series A round of funding according to reports. The SME-focused startup provides cross-border payments solutions for 39 currencies, on its web platform or by integrating with Verto’s API. The round was led by VC firm Quona Capital. It also had participation from Treasury, Middle East Venture Partners, TMT Investments, Unicorn Growth Capital, Zrosk Investment Management, and P1 Ventures. Funding will be used towards the development of Verto’s platform, and expansion into other markets across Africa. “We plan to expand our presence in emerging markets with this fund through…

Three Egyptian banks will be launching an Egypt fintech fund of EGP 1 billion (US$63.6 million) to support fintech companies next month, according to a recent statement. The three banks are National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and Banque du Caire, and participation from other banks and financial institutions was welcome, the statement said. The move is aimed at leveraging fintech solutions to transform Egypt into a “regional centre for the Arab and African financial technology industry,” the statement said. The Egypt fintech fund is especially looking at the digital banking and financial services sector, and fintech apps that can…

Cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card, which has a pan-African presence, has secured US$15 million in a Series A round. This is the largest ever funding round to have been raised by an African crypto exchange, a statement from the company said. Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures led the round. Participating investors included Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Square, Blockchain.com Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, BlockFi, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership, MoonPay, and GreenHouse Capital, amongst others. Funding will be used to boost hiring and expansion across Africa, the US and Africa-based company noted. Yellow Card allows users to buy, sell,…