Afridigest Fintech Review: Nigeria's new cash withdrawal limits are good for bitcoin

Week 49 2022: December 4-10

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 (which is on a temporary hiatus right now) goes out on Wednesdays.

On to this week’s highlights:

• Six Africa-focused fintech deals were announced for ~$2M in disclosed equity funding and $30M in debt funding.

• The Central Bank of Nigeria introduced new ATM & OTC cash withdrawal limits. News of Chipper Cash’s down round hit the streets. Global VC firm Accel named 8 African fintechs to its inaugural Fintech 100 EMEA list. Jack Dorsey talked bitcoin during his Ghana visit. And more.

• Other companies mentioned in today’s Fintech Review: Fin, Ukheshe, Moove, TymeBank, Beem, MFS Africa, Network International, CinetPay, Yellow Card, Paystack, & more.

• Executives mentioned include M-Pesa’s Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, DriveWealth’s Terry Angelos, Pezesha’s Hilda Moraa, Chapa’s Nael Hailemariam & Israel Goytom, Bitnob’s Bernard Parah, and JUMO’s Jeremy Quainoo.

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[If you’re not a paying subscriber of Afridigest, you’ll only see a free preview of this Fintech Review. Remember to upgrade your subscription or start a trial to read it in full — it’s highly recommended by and for fintech professionals & investors. Check out previous, non-paywalled versions here, here, and here.]

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Week 49 2022: December 4-10

-💸 Fundraises

EQUITY

• 🇿🇦 Fin (formerly Finclusion Group), a South African/pan-African credit-led neobanking platform, raised $2M.

• 🇿🇦 Ukheshe, a South African fintech-as-a-service provider, raised an undisclosed amount.

• The following fintech startups will receive $100K in equity investment via a seed accelerator program:

  • 🇪🇬 AMWAL, an Egyptian sharia-compliant crowdlending platform.

  • 🇪🇬 Deben, an Egyptian financial SaaS platform that automates cash flow management and facilitates financial reporting, analysis, and forecasting.

  • 🇪🇬 Neqabty, an Egyptian, community-based fintech platform targeting labor unions

DEBT

• 🇳🇬 Moove, a Nigerian ‘mobility fintech’ platform offering vehicle financing solutions primarily to ride-hailing drivers, raised $30M from a sukuk (Sharia-compliant bond) issuance. This is the fifth raise Moove has announced this year.

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🤝🏻 Mergers & Acquisitions

• South African digital bank TymeBank announced that its acquisition of Retail Capital is now complete after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals. The deal, which is worth ~$86M (ZAR 1.5B) was initially announced in Week 31.

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🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

PRODUCT LAUNCHES

• Pan-African communications platform Beem launched its integration with Paystack. As a result, Beem users can now collect payments via chat in WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram & other channels.