financial inclusion
Minu knows financial, employee wellness are connected, so it built 30 gamified benefits
Two years after profiling minu, the company has over 300 enterprise customers and its revenue grew more than five times between 2021 and 2022.
Komunal is reaching out to Indonesia’s rural customers by going where they are. The fintech partners with more than 220 banks in tier 2 and tier 3 cities spread through…
Open finance startup Ayoconnect’s APIs enable financial inclusion in Southeast Asia
Focused on Southeast Asia, Ayoconnect’s APIs make it faster for businesses to launch new financial services, instead of needing to build their own tech infrastructure. It is also licensed by…
Fintech app Portabl raises $2.5M to help consumers securely store financial data
It provides identity management and protection for financial services, banking and consumer apps.
NowNow raises $13M seed, plans to scale its ecosystem of financial products across Africa
In 2011, the Nigerian government launched a financial inclusion initiative and set a target to include 80% of the country’s adult population. Although only a target of 64% was met…
For remittances, crypto is still a problem looking for a solution
Are remittance payments really ripe for crypto disruption? And can DeFi help what a16z’s state of crypto report calls the “huge part of the world [ … ] underserved by…
Egyptian financial super app Khazna raises $38M from Quona Capital and Lendable
In a country where 50% of its 100 million people are active smartphone users, two out of every three individuals have little or no access to formal financial services in…
Nigerian digital bank Yep! raises $1.5M pre-seed for its ‘financial super app’ play
Agency banking is big business in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. It involves agents or merchants, who act as human ATMs, offering financial services such as transfers, savings and payouts to…
Nigeria’s OnePipe raises $3.5M to double down on its embedded finance offering
Last year, fintech API infrastructure players came into the African tech scene, ushering in Plaid-like services to businesses and developers. And the attention on these companies, particularly from venture capitalists,…
Mexico’s Kavak drives away with $700M in new funding, doubling its valuation to $8.7B
Kavak, a Mexico City-based startup that operates a pre-owned car marketplace in Latin America, announced today that it has raised a massive $700 million in a Series E round that…
Nigerian fintech HerVest wants to bring financial inclusion to more African women
After years of working in marketing for a number of financial services companies, Solape Akinpelu came to a conclusion: There was an “alarmingly low adoption” by women for financial services…
Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan lands $120M from Apis Partners, DisrupTech and others
More than 70% of Egypt’s young and fast-growing population of over 100 million is financially underserved, despite mobile penetration exceeding 90%. Traditional banks often overlook this segment because of their…
TeamApt will use its new funding round to provide digital bank services for the unbanked
A great deal has changed since we last covered Nigerian fintech startup TeamApt two years ago. At the time, the company had just closed a $5.5 million Series A round…
Wagely, an Indonesian earned wage access and financial services platform, raises $5.6M
Earned wage access (EWA) platforms that allow workers to withdraw their earnings on demand instead of waiting until payday are proliferating around the world. Today, Indonesian EWA startup wagely announced…
Payments, lending and neobanks rule fintechs in emerging markets, report says
Tech investments in emerging markets have been in full swing over the past couple of years and their ecosystems have thrived as a result. Some of these markets like Africa,…
Nigerian fintech Appzone raises $10M for expansion and proprietary technology
Africa’s fintech space has gained proper attention over the past few years in investments but it is not news that startups still battle with offering high-quality products. However, they seem…
Nigerian fintech of the unbanked Bankly raises $2M led by Vault
Nigeria remains a largely cash-dominated country. There are more than 100 million adult Nigerians, of which more than half have little or no access to financial services. Today, Bankly, a…
Jeff raises $1M to build alternative credit scoring and other fintech products for Southeast Asia
According to the World Bank, more than one billion people in South and East Asia lack access to a bank account. For many, this makes it difficult to secure loans…
Payfazz invests $30M in Xfers as the two Southeast Asian fintechs form Fazz Financial Group
Payfazz and Xfers, two startups that want to increase financial inclusion in Southeast Asia, announced today they have joined forces to create a new holding entity called Fazz Financial Group.…
Minu, a Mexico City-based, pay-on-demand startup, lands a $14M Series A
Many of the startups raising capital in Mexico are focused on financial inclusion, aiming to level the playing field in a country that is largely unbanked and has a burgeoning…
Mono, a startup that wants to build Plaid for Africa, gets backing from Y Combinator
Prakhar Singh and ex-Paystack employee Abdul Hassan have known each other for seven years, building different tech products individually and collectively along the way. Before joining Paystack in 2018, Hassan…
Nigeria’s Okra raises $1M from TLcom connecting bank accounts to apps
A new Nigerian fintech venture, Okra, has racked up a unique mix of accomplishments in less than a year. The Lagos based API developer created a product that generates revenues…
In Nigeria, PalmPay waives fees and creates ₦100M COVID-19 payout fund
Africa-focused payment startup PalmPay will waive transfer fees in Nigeria and offer direct payouts to customers who have contracted COVID-19 in the West African country. The venture — that launched…
Visa has prioritized growth in Africa, and partnering with startups is central to its strategy. This became obvious in 2019 after the global financial services giant entered a series of…
Catalyst Fund gets $15M from JP Morgan, UK Aid to back 30 EM fintech startups
The Catalyst Fund has gained $15 million in new support from JP Morgan and UK Aid and will back 30 fintech startups in Africa, Asia, and Latin America over the…
Accion Venture Lab launches $23M inclusive fintech startup fund
Accion Venture Lab — the seed-stage investment arm of nonprofit Accion — has raised $23 million for a new inclusive fintech startup fund. The Accion Venture Lab Limited Partnership, as…
