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Habari fintech friends,
When smartphones started gaining real momentum back in the late 2000s, Africa pulled off a legendary leapfrog move. Western markets slowly transitioned from desktop PCs to smartphones, but Africa skipped personal computers almost entirely. Fixed broadband infrastructure was simply too slow and expensive to deploy at scale, making the mobile screen Africa’s primary portal to the internet, business, and banking.
Yet, a massive hurdle remained. A $150 smartphone was still out of reach for millions earning daily wages. How do you digitize a continent when people cannot afford the screen?
That is where African asset financing platforms stepped in. Instead of viewing smartphones as consumer luxuries, fintechs began treating them as productivity tools and underwriting them through pay-as-you-go micro-loans. Today, fintechs are directly funding Africa’s screen time and scaling rapidly off it.
This week brought major proof of that momentum, Watu Simu hit 1 million financed smartphones in Uganda alone. To grasp their scale, Watu Group generated $231 million in revenue in 2024, driven heavily by smartphone lending. Meanwhile, M-KOPA reached 10 million total customers across five markets while pulling in $416 million in revenue in 2024, backing it up this week with a fresh $30 million debt facility for its Kenya mobility division.
By financing the hardware, these platforms lock in the entry point to mobile wallets, gig platforms, and digital commerce. African fintechs are no longer just building the apps on the screen, they are funding the screen itself.
- Jovin
Also: Tembo expanded into Rwanda, SentiBud debuted WhatsApp escrow, Daya tokenized US stocks, Guinea launched NimbaPay and 17 African fintechs made CNBC's ranking
The Rundown
🏦 M&A
Zedcrest Completed the Full Acquisition of Leatherback.
🚀 Product Launches
Daya Launched Tokenized US Stocks via blockchain technology in Africa.
SentiBud Launched a WhatsApp Escrow Service in Nigeria.
M-PESA Ethiopia and Gebeya Launched an AI Mini App on the M-PESA platform.
Rank Launched Community Finance Products aimed at young Africans.
Guinea Launched NimbaPay, its national instant payment system.
Vodacom Lesotho Launched Tsetela, an investment service integrated into M-Pesa.
💸 Fundraises
🗂️ Other News
Tembo expanded to Rwanda, providing B2B payment infrastructure.
Duplo Partnered with Wema Bank to digitize business banking operations.
Fintech WayaWaya Appointed Raj Singh to drive regional expansion.
Watu financed 1,000,000 smartphones in Uganda to accelerate regional digital inclusion.
M-KOPA reached 10,000,000 customers across 5 African markets after unlocking over $2B in total credit.
eZi Remit partnered with Mastercard to enhance South African cross-border payments.
LemFi partnered with BVNK on stablecoin cross-border payment rails.
Busha Business partnered with Tether to expand stablecoin infrastructure in Africa.
Kenya published the Virtual Assets Service Providers Regulations 2026.
FCCPC resumed enforcement of digital lending rules following a key court victory.
17 African fintech companies made CNBC and Statista's 2026 World Top 500 list.
Britam Uganda partnered with Airtel Money to broaden mobile insurance coverage.
Unlimit expanded its partnership with Xiaomi GetApps to scale global payment options for game studios.
Cregis expanded into Africa, introducing enterprise digital asset infrastructure.
Quote of the Week
This Week Question
🤓 Trivia of the week
What percentage of new smartphone buyers in East Africa rely on micro installment asset financing to get connected today?
(Answer at the closing remarks)
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Did you guess this week's trivia right?
The answer is over 50%. In key East African markets like Kenya, credit based smartphone sales now beat cash. And most people thought connecting the next 100 million required faster networks or smarter apps. It didn't. It just required an affordable screen.
That’s all for today, friends. See you next Monday.
Asante.
