Hi Fintech friends 👋, Before all, today I would love for you to know that on May 29th, I’ll be heading to New York for Stablecon, the number one event for the stablecoin ecosystem that will feature speakers like the Founder of Bridge, CEO of BitGo, CEO of Zero Hash, CEO of Mesh, Co-Founder and CBO of BVNK, CEO of Bitso, CEO of Yellow Card, Superintendent of the NY Dept of Financial Services, Former Commissioner of the CFTC, Head of Crypto at Revolut, Head of Crypto at Visa and Head of Europe at Coinbase. Will you be there? Sign up at stablecon.com .
Here are the highlights of what happened in African Fintech this week;
Africa’s fastest growing Remittance company raised $53 Million.
Egyptian Fintech acquired other Fintech to broaden its product offerings and introduce instant loans.
YC backed African Fintech launched Mercury alternative for African startups.
OpenAI appointed a prominent African investor to its board.
African VC made $8 Million from its $150K investment in Africa’s Unicorn.
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💸Fundraise and Exits
Nigeria's SeamlessHRraised $9 Million to expand HR and payroll solutions across Africa.
Some Africa’s HR startups
CreditChek raised funding from The Baobab Network to revolutionize cross-border credit assessments for African immigrants.
The Baobab Network Portfolio Startups
Egyptian fintech startup Raseediacquired counterpart Kashat in an equity deal to broaden its product offerings and introduce instant loans.
💰 Venture Funds
How African VC firm Oui Capitalturned $150K to $8 million in five years.
Investors in Africa active in at least one $100k+ deal | H12021 - H12024
Global accelerator Techstarsentered Botswana to fuel startup growth.
🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches
YC-backed WazalaunchedLync, an alternative to Mercury for African startups after a $8 Million raise.
👔 Leadership Lineup
OpenAI appointed Adebayo Ogunlesi, one of Africa’s and the world’s most respected investors, to its board.
Adebayo Ogunlesi
📰 News of the Week
Lemfiraised a $53 Million Series B round and acquired a European firm.
AFRICA'S TOP REMITTANCE RECIPIENTS (2024)
Lemfi’s expansion into Europe came off the back of a partnership with Modulr, but its acquisition of an unnamed Republic of Ireland-based company will allow it to begin its European operations independently from next month.The 4-year-old fintech helps over 1 million active users to transfer money to friends and family in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, India, China, Pakistan, and 15 others.
The company recorded over $2 billion in annual transaction volume in 2023 and now processes $1 billion in monthly payment volume.
👀 Eye Openers
“To improve livelihoods, the continent needs more scaled enterprises, more productive SMEs, more salaried employees — and less subsistence micro-entrepreneurs”
Africa is the only inhabited continent without any Fortune 500 companies
To improve livelihoods, the continent needs more scaled enterprises, more productive SMEs, more salaried employees — and less subsistence micro-entrepreneurshttps://t.co/qpHWcntefL https://t.co/4zZqbPubHM pic.twitter.com/ZIGllEQWGJ— Emeka Ajene ✍🏽 (@eajene) January 15, 2025
📑 Read of the week
Top 10+1 African Fintechs to watch in 2025(John Haule)
📖 Other News, Reads, and Media
Safaricom and Kenyan commercial banksclaimed the Central Bank’s (CBK) plan to build a fast payment system (FPS) could cost at least $200 million and take up to four years to complete.
🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS
What does it take to build a reliable mobile money payment solution? An interview with Nikolai Barnwell, Founder and CEO of PawaPay
🦉 Tweet of the Week
lemfi is easily my most significant miss. after my call with the ceo in 2020, i expressed skepticism about the team's preparedness for multi-market regulatory challenges. their execution and growth since then has been nothing short of impressive. well done, @ridwan_olalere.— Ezra 'God' Olubi (@0x) January 14, 2025
Ezra said he is at least thankful that he invested in two funds that invested in LemFi.
🎯 Fintech Opportunities
Applications open for 4th Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator. Apply
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