Interswitch

Interswitch receives $110M investment from LeapFrog and Tana Africa Capital

African payments company Interswitch has secured a $110 million joint investment from LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital to scale its digital payment services across the continent, the two p

Digital bank Umba raises $15M, plans to expand into three new African markets

There’s no shortage of digital banks in Nigeria and, in general, in Africa. As the region continues to experience rapid growth in mobile usage and the corresponding growing young population, these f

OkHi gets $1.5M seed extension to scale its smart address verification service across Africa

It can be challenging to prove or navigate addresses in Africa due to poor addressing infrastructure. And for some countries like Nigeria, customers need to accurately provide their addresses to finan

Esusu becomes unicorn with SoftBank Vision Fund 2-led $130M funding

More than 100 million Americans spend an average of $1,100 (over $1.4 trillion per year) on their largest monthly household spend: rent. But reports say 90% of these people don’t get credit for pay

Nigeria’s ThankUCash secures $5.3M to build infrastructure for cash back, deals and BNPL services

Loyalty, deals and rewards services are a rarity in most African markets. The unit economics and other factors such as currency instability make such businesses hard to pull off in the region. Yet Tha

African tech took center stage in 2021

Two years ago, the African tech ecosystem saw newfound attention from global players that translated to the continent’s best year of receiving venture capital. From varying sources, it is estimated

Chipper Cash gets $2B valuation with $150M extension round led by FTX

Chipper Cash, an African cross-border payments company, has raised $150 million in a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. The investment comes ba

SoftBank sinks $200M into Andela, propels company into unicorn territory

CEO Jeremy Johnson sees more competition coming into the global tech talent hiring space as he saw the number of Andela applicants increase 5x in the past six months.

Kenya’s Ajua acquires WayaWaya to consolidate consumer experience play in African SMEs

Kenyan consumer experience platform for businesses in Africa, Ajua today announced that it has acquired WayaWaya, a Kenya-based AI and ML messaging and payments company. WayaWaya’s customers and

Nigeria’s IROKO plans to go public on the London Stock Exchange AIM in 2022

IROKO, a Nigerian-based media company, could file to go public in the next 12 months on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) Alternative Investment Market. Founded by Jason Njoku and Bastian Gotter in 2011

African fintech startup Chipper Cash raises $30M backed by Jeff Bezos

African cross-border fintech startup Chipper Cash has raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital with participation of Bezos Expeditions — the personal VC fund of Amazon CEO

Interswitch to revive its Africa venture fund, CEO confirms

Pan-African fintech company Interswitch plans to fire up its corporate venture arm again — according to CEO Mitchell Elegbe — who spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt on Wednesday. The Nigerian founder did

Interswitch CEO Mitchell Elegbe to discuss African fintech at TechCrunch Disrupt

The CEO of Pan-African fintech unicorn Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe, is set to speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2020 on September 16. He founded the company in Lagos in 2002 to connect Nigeria’s —

Why COVID-19 could delay Interswitch, Africa’s next big IPO

The economic effects of COVID-19 could delay Africa’s next big IPO — that of Nigerian fintech unicorn Interswitch. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time the Lagos-based payments company&#

Visa and Kenya’s Safaricom partner on M-Pesa, payments and tech

Visa just connected to Africa’s most powerful mobile payments network. The global financial services company and Kenyan telecom Safaricom — operator of the M-Pesa mobile money product — anno

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’s Africa strategy banks on startup partnerships

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 collaborations

Visa partners with Paga on payments and fintech for Africa and abroad

Visa has entered a partnership with Nigeria based startup Paga on payments and technology. Founded in Lagos, Paga scaled its fintech business in West Africa, before targeting expansion in Ethiopia and

Did African startups raise $496M, $1B or $2B in 2019?

Five years ago, it was hard to come by any formal numbers for annual VC investment in Africa. These days the challenge is choosing which number to follow. That’s the case with three venture fund

Africa Roundup: TLcom closes $71M fund, Jumo raises $55M, AWS partners with Safaricom

VC firm TLcom Capital closed its Tide Africa Fund at $71 million in February, and announced plans to invest in 12 startups over the next 18 months. The group — with offices in London, Lagos and Nair
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