Hi Fintech friends 👋,

Here are the highlights of what happened in African Fintech this week;

• Payments Unicorn raised $267 Million to expand its reach in Africa.
• Two South African startups announced funding deals.
• Tanzania based VC firm launched TheNextFund to support East African early stage startups.
• A new $17 Million fund was launched to support South African startups.
• CEO of Kenyan Fintech startup lost appeal against dispute with Flutterwave.
• Four suspects in one of the African Bank card fraud scheme wired $2.4 million to Abu Dhabi.

The long wait is almost over, get your tickets

💸Fundraise and Exits

• South-African startup Scale raised $700K to help fintechs issue cards.

• South African fintech startup LittleFish secured funding from TLcom and Flourish. 

💰 Venture Funds

• New $17 Million Seed Fund was launched  to bridge the funding gap for South African Startups.

• Tanzania based Ennovate Ventures launched TheNextFund 3.0 to support East African early stage startups.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• Fincra secured a payment license to expand services in South Africa.
• Kazang launched card-acquiring service to ease payments for merchants in Zambia.
• Mastercard and Amazon partnered to enhance digital payment in Egypt and South Africa.
• Nala partnered with NCBA Bank Kenya to power cross-border payments.

👔 Leadership Lineup

• Credrails CEO reportedly loses appeal against Flutterwave in contact details dispute.

News of the Week

• Payment unicorn Zepz raised $267 million to expand its reach in Africa.

Two years after reaching profitability for the first time, Zepz, the parent company of African cross-border payment companies World Remit and Sendwave has raised $267 million.It was valued at $5 billion when it previously raised $232 million in 2021.

The fintech will use the funding to expand its reach in Africa. It currently operates in over 150 countries including South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and South Africa.

👀 Eye Openers - How secure is offering banking services on WhatsApp?

Approximately 95.4% of internet users in South Africa reported using WhatsApp every month. In Nigeria, 91.9% of internet users use WhatsApp; in Kenya, 93.5% and in Ghana, 89.9%. The more people use the internet, the more they use WhatsApp. 

Nigeria's fintech company, Mono, is preparing to launch OWO,  its AI-powered banking services on WhatsApp, allowing users to perform transactions via text, voice, or image without leaving the app.

While the idea seems great in terms of UI/UX and convenience, the most frequently asked question is how secure such platforms will be. How secure is offering banking services on WhatsApp? Share your thoughts with us, and we will publish them in our next newsletter.

📑 Read of the week

• What the African Payments industry can learn from Brazil.(frontierfintech)

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• Four suspects in the Equity Group card fraud scheme wired $2.4 million to Abu Dhabi.
• Lesaka completed acquisition of Adumo for $96 million.
• US SEC charged a former Tingo accountant with aiding and abetting fraud.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

Interview with Co-founders of Merchant Capital, South Africa's leading non-bank alternative lender for SMEs on how they grew from zero to $500+ Million in loans for their clients over the past 12 years.

🦉 Tweet of the Week

🎯 Fintech Opportunities

People will be talking about this event for weeks after it happens.

Main sponsors confirmed. few more slots remaining. If you’re keen, this is the time. Please reach out at wiza@thisweekinfintech.com.

Made in Tanzania 🇹🇿 with 💚

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