Akwaaba Fintech Friends 👋,
The World Cup is running, and with 9 out of 10 African teams reaching the next phase, the continent is proving the game has grown. Off the pitch, a bigger signal is unfolding.
Foreign banks long labeled Africa too risky. Yet, Monzo analyzed the data, saw billions moving along the UK to Nigeria route, and last week they just launched direct in app Naira transfers to capture the market from third party remittance apps.
And it’s not an isolated play. Europe’s most valuable fintech, Revolut, has also targeted a South African launch, with its waitlist already blowing past 100,000 registrations.
When giants like Monzo and Revolut step into Africa, they prove that the old fears about doing business here are wrong. It sends a signal that African payment routes are now highly profitable and evolving corridors that global markets simply cannot afford to ignore anymore.
Let's look at the rest of this week's fintech news from Africa.
📰 News of the Week
UK challenger bank Monzo introduced a direct, lowcost remittance corridor specifically targeting Nigeria.
In a watershed moment for the ecosystem, the £5 billion digital bank bypassed traditional third-party aggregators to build direct in-app pipelines into Nigerian Naira accounts. Driven by undeniable user data showing massive diaspora liquidity moving from Monzo into specialized remittance apps, the move targets a slice of the lucrative £7 billion UK-to-Nigeria corridor. By lowering perception risk and streamlining transaction flows, Monzo’s entry signals a major shift where global heavyweights are now directly competing for African payment market share.
Fundraise and Exits
Stabyl raised $2.7 million as it officially launched out of stealth mode to fix African FX infrastructure gaps.
Nigerian crossborder payment startup Daya secured $2.4 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round led by Hivemind Capital.
Beltone’s massive $227 million strategic investment into lender Baobab yielded highly profitable financial returns.
Policy & Regulations
The Central Bank of Nigeria enforced strict new ownership disclosure rules for fintech platforms.
Capital.com received official regulatory approval from the FSCA to legally operate its trading services in South Africa.
A Kenyan court legally cleared Vodacom's massive, long-contested $1.6 billion acquisition of Safaricom shares.
Partnerships & Product Launches
MiniPay introduced stablecoin-linked cards to streamline digital dollar transaction flows for everyday consumer spend.
LIFT becomes the first South African airline to offer Apple Pay, Google Pay, and cryptocurrency payments.
Nuvion partnered with Visa Direct to enable realtime, cross-border payment payouts for its platform users.
Grey expanded its international payout options by integrating four new global fiat currencies into its dashboard.
Paystack launched the Paystack Index, an AI-powered payment performance and business intelligence tool in Nigeria.
OneDosh integrated Cash App funding pipelines to accelerate cross-border money transfers.
Read of the week
Are stablecoins really something new? - BlockRadar
Stablecoin & Crypto Watch
Yellow Card gained official Swiss regulatory approval to offer institutional-grade stablecoin and corporate treasury services.
A South African fan token piloted an innovative, blockchain-based financing and engagement model for sports businesses.
Kenyan Bitcoin payments company Tando opened spending pathways for 40 million M-Pesa users.
Goldfinch’s African lending arm collapsed, causing its native token value to completely crash following credit defaults.
Other News, Reads, and Media
Paystack pledged $2,900 in equity-free growth support to empower local Nigerian small businesses.
A severe system glitch on Baxi's platform left thousands of agency banking operators completely stranded.
An African lending fintech rebranded its corporate identity to _able after successfully facilitating $650 million in total loans.
Revolut targeted a South African market expansion by 2028 as its waiting list neared 100,000 registrations.
Video Interviews/Discussions
Paga founder Tayo Oviosu shares masterclass lessons from seventeen years of building African fintech, explaining why long-term industry survival and mass financial inclusion depend entirely on creating foundational infrastructure instead of simple consumer banking apps.
Tweet of the Week
That's all for this week. See you next Monday.
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