Afridigest Fintech Review: Don't sleep on Uganda
Week 50 2022: December 11-17
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.) 🎅 Please note: the next Fintech Review which is due to come out on Christmas day will be delayed to later in the week. We wish you a fantastic holiday period. 🎅
On to this week’s highlights:
• It was one of the slower weeks for Africa-focused fintech deals as the year comes to an end.
• Despite that, there were a good number of interesting: reports on embedded finance, CBDCs, & more; partnership announcements; and newly launched product & service offerings.
• Eversend’s Stone Atwine shared some exclusive thoughts with Afridigest on why Uganda isn't to be overlooked as a fintech powerhouse (thanks, Stone 🙏🏽); Visa made a new $1B announcement — but is it "vapid corporate-speak" or a substantive development?; and the complaints about virtual cards in Nigeria got louder.
• Other companies mentioned in today’s Fintech Review: Bitnob, ValU, Cassbana, PayMint, Hello Pay, Jumo, Payday, eZaga, Exin Versa, NALA, 8B Education Investments, & others.
• Executives mentioned include Eversend’s Stone Atwine, DKK Partners’ Sam Nti, Visa’s Cuy Sheffield, Moni Africa’s Femi Iromini, Lami’s Jihan Abass, Nomanini’s Vahid Monadjem, LayUp’s Andrew Katzwinkel, BezoMoney’s Mubarak Sumaila, Collect Africa’s Abraham Ojes, Ladda’s Oluwatosin Olaseinde, Fonbnk’s Michael Kimani, ValU’s Walid Hassouna, Victor Asemota, & other executives.
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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.]
Week 50 2022: December 11-17
-💸 FundraisesAFRICA
🇹🇿 Swahilies, a Tanzanian payment processing & financial operating system for SMEs, raised a $50K pre-seed from the Baobab Network.
ADJACENT
🇺🇸 8B Education Investments, an American fintech lender to African students attending global universities, raised a $3M seed round.
🚀 Partnerships & Product LaunchesLAUNCHES
Pan-African payments platform Payday announced the private beta of Cherry Finance, a money transfer product based with a $2 flat fee per transfer. Cherry will target African immigrants in North America (US & Canada) and enable them to send money back home securely and affordably.
South African digital banking platform eZaga launched multi-asset investment platform DoshFX in partnership with global exchange Digital Financial Exchange (DIFX). Available via web app and Android app, DoshFX aims to increase access to financial services across Africa while improving the rate of adoption of blockchain technologies, traditional asset investments, and cryptocurrency trading throughout the continent.
Nigerian fintech platform Exin Versa launched B2B supply chain management & finance solution Xelar.