Afridigest Fintech Review: Tingo's acquisition is complete

Week 48 2022: November 27 - December 3

The Afridigest Fintech Review is a weekly recap of what happened in African fintech.

Hello again, friends! Remember: this Fintech Review goes out on Sundays, the regular Week in Review goes out on Mondays, and the French-language Revue de la Semaine goes out on Wednesdays. (Assuming no delays.)

On to this week’s highlights:

• Two Africa-focused fintech deals were announced for ~$8M in disclosed funding.

• The Central Bank of Egypt launches its financial inclusion strategy for 2022-25, McKinsey released its 2022 global payments report, and the IMF published a new paper on fintech & the remittances market.

• Paystack, DPO Group, Be Mobile Africa, and others launched new product & service offerings. And Kenya’s 'Hustler Fund' also launched during the week.

• Other companies mentioned in today’s Fintech Review: Tingo, Lipa Later, Vella Finance, Cardify Africa, Paymob, Contact Financial, M-PESA, Zone (Appzone), Cellulant, Sama Money, TransferGo.

• Executives mentioned include Safaricom’s Peter Ndegwa, Paxful’s Ray Youssef, Pezesha’s Hilda Moraa, Zone’s Obi Emetarom, FlexID’s Victor Mapunga, Flutterwave’s Dotun Adekunle, Raenest’s Victor Alade, SendSprint’s Damisi Busari, Visa’s Aida Diarra, Mukuru’s Andy Jury, Mastercard’s Mark Elliott, & more.

⭐ Not interested in fintech? No problem, visit the Notifications section on your Account Settings page and deselect the Fintech option. (And if you speak French, make sure to turn notifications on for Afridigest Français — it’ll come back from hiatus soon.)

(This Fintech Review is behind a paywall, and we hope you’ll consider supporting us with a subscription. Check out previous, non-paywalled versions here, here, and here. As always, your feedback is welcome. 🙏🏽)

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Week 48 2022: Nov 27 - Dec 3

-💸 Fundraises

AFRICA

• 🇨🇲 Ejara, a Cameroonian/French platform for investing in cryptocurrency & other assets, raised an $8M Series A.

• 🇳🇬 Owoafara, a Nigerian digital banking platform, raised an undisclosed amount from ShEquity.

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🤝🏻 Mergers & Acquisitions

• The acquisition of Nigerian agri-fintech platform Tingo by Asia-focused financial technology group MICT (NASDAQ: MICT) was completed. MICT is issuing 19.9% of its common stock to Tingo, together with convertible Series A Preferred and Series B Preferred Stock, as consideration. [Note: Any info/insights on Tingo you have are still very much welcome.]

  Mike @padresmike63

  $mict Story is even better now. Tingo elected to do deal with MICT rather than list itself on NYSE. So much upside here. Completely under the radar. Fintech firm, Tingo valued at over $6 billion on U.S. OTC seeks new $500 million funding - Nairametrics

  

  nairametrics.comFintech firm, Tingo valued at over $6 billion on U.S. OTC seeks new $500 million fundingTingo, a financial technology company founded in Nigeria is seeking to raise $500 million in funding, as it plans to

• Kenyan consumer credit & BNPL platform Lipa Later is acquiring struggling e-commerce platform Sky.Garden.

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🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

LAUNCHES

OK then @Kdenkss

Huge win for Paystack in finally entering the POS game, I’ve long admired @Yoco_ZA ‘s efforts on this in South Africa so it’s great that Paystack will be leading the charge in its markets. Also a meaningful product addition likely informed by Stripe’s own Terminal offering.

Paystack @paystack

⚡️ Hi team, we're thrilled to announce Paystack Terminal! Terminal is a point-of-sale solution that helps modern businesses in Africa create custom, delightful in-person payment experiences that keep customers coming back. (THREAD 👇🏾) https://t.co/wdQLWFmwYn

• Nigerian payments gateway Paystack announced point-of-sale solution Terminal. Unlike traditional card-only POS devices, Terminal allows merchants to collect payments via card, bank transfers, and USSD; Terminal’s software also allows merchant to build custom payment experiences on top of it.