Hi Fintech friends 👋,
It has been a slow week with less Fintech announcements, here are the highlights of what happened in African Fintech this week;
A list of the African fintechs to watch in 2025 was released.
SVC invested in a $150 Million fund targeting tech sectors across Saudi Arabia, MENA, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Nigerian bank got a court order to recover $1.9 Million erroneously credited to customer accounts in October 2024.
World’s payments giant opened an application for it’s Fintech accelerator.
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💸Fundraise and Exits
No fintech deals were announced this week, but let’s take a look at Africa’s newest unicorns, which raised a combined $360 million in 2024.
African digital bank Tyme , which has 10 million users, $400 million in customer deposits and extended more than $600 million in financing to small businesses, raised a $250M round led by Nubank at a $1.5B valuation.
The cybernetic 'flippening' in Africa. Two newest unicorns:
1. @moniepointng: hybrid, digital+agent network
2. @tymebankza: hybrid, digital+physical touchpoint
The fully digital players are hitting rev ceilings unless they touch global flows.— Stephen Deng 邓广藻 (@mrstephendeng) December 17, 2024
African fintech Moniepoint that processes over 800 million transactions, with monthly total value exceeding $17 billion raised $110 Million at $1 Billion valuation.
💰 Venture Funds
SVCinvested in Global Ventures III, a $150 Million fund targeting tech sectors across Saudi Arabia, MENA, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Start-ups in Africa raised $2.2b in 2024, a -25% Yoy drop.
🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches
PayMintreceived approval from the Central Bank of Egypt to launch its first prepaid "Meeza" card through a partnership with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank - Egypt.
Top Fintech companies in Egypt
👔 Leadership Lineup
Ayodele Olojede, Divisional Head of Retail and SME Banking at Wema Bank, shared the keys to how banks and fintechs across Nigeria and Africa can succeed in SME banking.
📰 News of the Week
10 African Fintechs to watch in 2025;
Of Africa's nine unicorns all, except Andela, are fintech companies.
Fintechs remain the most-funded startups in Africa’s tech ecosystem, securing 35% of the total funds raised in H1 2024. The sector also welcomed two new unicorns: Moniepoint and Tyme Bank. Below are 10 African Fintechs to watch in 2025, according to Techcabal.Each category lists two or three startups to watch and their products.
Credit Card Business; Allawee and Monapp
Contactless payments; Cash Africa, Karla and TAP
Payment Infrastructure; Zone, Keyrails and Hub2
Escrow services; Aje and Midddleman
Techcabal also released a list of top five Kenyan startups to watch in 2025, and four of them are Fintechs which are;
M-Kopa, Kopokopo, Hisa and Sukhiba.
👀 Eye Openers
In 2023, Nigeria’s Newest Unicorn, Moniepoint expanded in Kenya by acquiring Kopokopo, a Kenya based payments service provider. In 2024, Nigeria based Fintech Rise expanded in Kenya with acquisition of Kenya based Fintech Hisa.
Top 10 Fintech Startups in Kenya in 2024
The best way for Nigerian fintechs to expand in Kenya is by acquiring Kenyan startups?. Share your thoughts in the comments, and we will publish them in our next newsletter.
📑 Read of the week
Top 5 blockchain use cases in Nigeria you should know about(Techcabal)
📖 Other News, Reads, and Media
GTBankgot a court order to recover $1.9 Million erroneously credited to customer accounts in October 2024.
🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS
Visa's $1 Billion Bet on Africa - How will it be spent? To answer these questions, Innovate Africa founder Kieno Kammies sat down with Meagan Rabe, Visa's Senior Director for Sub-Saharan Africa Fintech, and James Ashton-Smith, head of Visa's Accelerator program for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA).
🦉 Tweet of the Week
How can we jumpstart African Securities markets and get the locals to start investing in stocks? The volumes are extremely low.— STONΞ (@StoneAtwine) January 1, 2025
🎯 Fintech Opportunities
Applications open for 4th Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator. Apply
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