Hi Fintech friends 👋,

It has been a slow week with less Fintech announcements, here are the highlights of what happened in African Fintech this week;

• A list of the African fintechs to watch in 2025 was released.
• SVC invested in a $150 Million fund targeting tech sectors across Saudi Arabia, MENA, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Nigerian bank got a court order to recover $1.9 Million erroneously credited to customer accounts in October 2024.
• World’s payments giant opened an application for it’s Fintech accelerator.

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This Week in FintechSabrina Baxter

💸Fundraise and Exits

No fintech deals were announced this week, but let’s take a look at Africa’s newest unicorns, which raised a combined $360 million in 2024.

• African digital bank Tyme , which has 10 million users, $400 million in customer deposits and extended more than $600 million in financing to small businesses,  raised a $250M round led by Nubank at a $1.5B valuation.

• African fintech Moniepoint that processes over 800 million transactions, with monthly total value exceeding $17 billion raised $110 Million at $1 Billion valuation.

💰 Venture Funds

• SVC invested in Global Ventures III, a $150 Million fund targeting tech sectors across Saudi Arabia, MENA, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• PayMint received approval from the Central Bank of Egypt to launch its first prepaid "Meeza" card through a partnership with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank - Egypt.

👔 Leadership Lineup

• Ayodele Olojede, Divisional Head of Retail and SME Banking at Wema Bank, shared the keys to how banks and fintechs across Nigeria and Africa can succeed in SME banking.

📰 News of the Week

• 10 African Fintechs to watch in 2025;

Fintechs remain the most-funded startups in Africa’s tech ecosystem, securing 35% of the total funds raised in H1 2024. The sector also welcomed two new unicorns: Moniepoint and Tyme Bank. Below are 10 African Fintechs to watch in 2025, according to Techcabal.Each category lists two or three startups to watch and their products.

• Credit Card Business; Allawee and Monapp
• Contactless payments; Cash Africa, Karla and TAP
• Payment  Infrastructure; Zone, Keyrails and Hub2
• Escrow services; Aje and Midddleman

Techcabal also released a list of top five Kenyan startups to watch in 2025, and four of them are Fintechs which are;

• M-Kopa, Kopokopo, Hisa and Sukhiba.

👀 Eye Openers

In 2023, Nigeria’s Newest Unicorn, Moniepoint expanded in Kenya by acquiring Kopokopo, a Kenya based payments service provider. In 2024, Nigeria based Fintech Rise expanded in Kenya with acquisition of Kenya based Fintech Hisa.

The best way for Nigerian fintechs to expand in Kenya is by acquiring Kenyan startups?. Share your thoughts in the comments, and we will publish them in our next newsletter.

📑 Read of the week

• Top 5 blockchain use cases in Nigeria you should know about(Techcabal)

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• GTBank got a court order to recover $1.9 Million erroneously credited to customer accounts in October 2024.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

• Visa's $1 Billion Bet on Africa - How will it be spent? To answer these questions, Innovate Africa founder Kieno Kammies sat down with Meagan Rabe, Visa's Senior Director for Sub-Saharan Africa Fintech, and James Ashton-Smith, head of Visa's Accelerator program for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA).

🦉 Tweet of the Week

🎯 Fintech Opportunities

• Applications open for 4th Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator. Apply 

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