Hi Fintech friends 👋
Here are the highlights of what happened in African Fintech this week:
MFS Africa, the continent's largest digital payments network, rebranded to Onafriq, signaling its intention to expand its payment services globally, going beyond Africa's borders.
Piggyvest, a popular Nigerian savings platform, generated widespread discussion by releasing its first ever savings report .
African Payments giant Interswitch lost ₦30(~$40 million) billion to chargeback fraud, launches recovery process.
💸Fundraises
Tunisian fintech startup My Easy Transfer raised $420,000 in funding to accelerate its growth and expand its offering.
💰 Venture Funds
The Pan-African VC firm Novastar Ventures secured a $40 million commitment from Japan's SBI Holdings for its future $200 million fund, which will invest in African startups focused on agriculture and climate. In its previous fund, Novastar Ventures invested in 15 African startups, including Nigerian fintech company Moniepoint.
Ventures Platform, an African VC firm whose portfolio includes African Fintechs like Paystack, Payday, and Mono, rebranded its appearance, including its logo and colors, and its investment strategy has evolved to offer initial checks of up to $1 million.
🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches
Africa’s unicorn, Chipper Cash, which has already issued over 500,000 virtual cards, is expanding its partnership with Visa for card issuance.
Eversend, an African remittance company, introduced money transfers from Europe to eight African countries.
Blockchain Fintech Minit Money launched Remittance Channel to Zambia.
📰 News of the Week
Norrsken22, an African venture capital firm, raised $205 million from over 30 unicorn founders, including Olugbenga Agboola, the CEO of Flutterwave, and other institutional investors, to support African startups. Approximately 50% of Norrsken’s capital will be allocated to expanding its portfolio with Series A and B companies. So far, Norrsken has invested in 5 African startups, including TymerBank, Sabi, and Smile Identity. The fund typically invests around $10 million per ticket, but it may go as high as $16 million, especially for follow-on rounds in specific portfolio companies.
📑 Read of the week
📖 Other News, Reads, and Media
Crowdyvest proposed converting ₦7.7 billion(~$9.5 million) it owes customers to equity.
🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS
Making Borders Matter Less with Onafriq's (previous MFS Africa) Dare Okoudjou
🦉 Tweet of the Week
Virtual & physical debit cards are on the rise across African markets
But just 3% of Africans own 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵 cards — the lowest credit card penetration rate of any region worldwide
Here's a look at credit card ownership rates in select countries across Africa & the world pic.twitter.com/ttZzjct3Id— Emeka Ajene ✍🏽 (@eajene) October 29, 2023
