Afridigest Fintech Review: A huge acquisition on the horizon?
Week 16 2023: April 16-22
Afridigest is your intelligent guide to Africa’s tech ecosystem. The Afridigest Fintech Review is a weekly recap of what matters in African fintech.
Hello again, friends! Remember: this Fintech Review goes out on Sundays and the regular Week in Review goes out on Mondays.
If you find Afridigest valuable, upgrade your subscription.
On to the week’s highlights:
• It was a quiet funding week in African fintech with just one announced deal out of Cameroon.
• News of the week: The largest payment processing firm in the MEA region is in talks to be acquired. (And global fintech platform Unlimint officially entered Nigeria.)
• Companies appearing in today’s Fintech Review: Koree, Network International, Diool, Kushi, Yellow Card, Bank Zero, OPay, InTouch, Dojah, & others.
• Executives appearing: Unlimint’s Isa Aliyushata, MTN’s Bradwin Roper, SecondSTAX’s Eugene Tawiah, Delta40’s Lyndsay Holley Handler, African Bank’s Sibongiseni Ngundze & others.
➜ If you’re a free subscriber, you’ll only see a preview below. Upgrade for full access.
⭐ Not interested in fintech? No problem: visit the Notifications section of your Account Settings page and deselect the Fintech option.
A MESSAGE FROM AFRICREATETrusted intelligence.
Africreate is a trusted research & advisory firm that offers customized intelligence-led solutions including:
Custom Research, Analysis, & Advisory for Bespoke Projects
Training, Executive Education, & Corporate Innovation Solutions
Strategic Communication & Thought Leadership Services
Week 16 2023: April 16-22
💸 FundraisesKoree, a Cameroonian payments & cashback loyalty/rewards platform for Francophone Africa, raised ~$22K.
📰 News of the WeekNetwork International (LSE:NETW), the largest payment processing firm across the Middle East and Africa, received a ~$2.6B acquisition proposal from a consortium of French and American private equity firms.
The consortium has until May 11th to make a firm bid and it’s possible that nothing will ultimately come out of this news — but you’ll recall that Network International’s ~$288M acquisition of DPO Group was Week 31 2020’s Deal of the Week.
Here’s what we wrote at the time:
Similarly, an acquisition of Network International at this time would be a pretty big deal for fintech in Africa and the Middle East. Watch this space.
🚀 Partnerships & Product LaunchesLAUNCHES
Pan-African crypto exchange Yellow Card launched its Payments API that enables businesses to collect and make local currency payments powered by automated stablecoin conversions. The company says it’s targeting “global companies [entering] Africa, remittance companies looking to benefit from crypto rails, and fintechs that need help with treasury management.”