Afridigest Executive Brief: Africa's payments power play
Strategic Intelligence for Senior Executives | Week 40: Sep 28 - Oct 3, 2025
The Afridigest Executive Brief delivers essential intelligence to busy executives.
A summary of this week’s key developments:
• Rural connectivity proving commercially viable as Mawingu raises $20M to connect underserved East African communities
• PayPal’s $100M MEA commitment signals structured, long-term bet on African payment infrastructure
• Bootstrapped Ghanaian fintech Hubtel reveals $110M+ annual (gross) revenue, offering counter-narrative to VC-dependent growth models
Deal of the Week
🇰🇪 Mawingu, a Kenyan internet service provider focused on underserved communities, raised a $20M Series C led by Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Managers (PRIM), a PE fund focused on African infrastructure. (News of the pending deal first broke in July with public notice from the Comesa Competition Commission.)
About Mawingu: Founded in 2012, Mawingu delivers affordable broadband to rural and peri-urban areas across East Africa. It accounts for 3% of Kenya’s fixed internet market, and has grown from ~16K subscribers in 2022 to ~59K in March 2025. Since inception, the company has ‘positively impacted’ over 120,000 people across Kenya and Tanzania, with plans to impact 1M people by 2028.
The Series C round builds on Mawingu’s expansion into Tanzania last year, where it acquired Arusha-based counterpart Habari after raising $15M for the deal — $11M in debt from Africa Go Green Fund and $4M in equity from InfraCo Africa and FMO.
Key personalities:
Farouk Ramji, CEO & Co-Founder, Mawingu
Ridwaan Tayob, Partner, Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Managers
In the Founder’s words: “As a multi-country operator with a committed footprint in rural and peri-urban markets, this latest capital injection brings us ever closer to realizing our ambition to positively transform the lives of 1 million people in Africa by 2028.” — Farouk Ramji
In the Investor’s words: “[Mawingu’s] history of disciplined scaling and creative problem solving in underconnected markets makes them a stand-out partner. We are confident in their capacity to grow sustainably across Africa.” — Ridwaan Tayob
Go deeper: The investment validates Mawingu’s buy-and-build model with a market often overlooked by traditional ISPs — rural and peri-urban areas where broadband penetration remains low. The company is well-positioned as a critical player offering essential infrastructure to close East Africa’s digital divide. PRIM reportedly acquired a 35% stake.
Deal Digest
Announced this week: Over $21M in disclosed new funding to four African startups. Plus one M&A deal. Here’s the full list: