Hi Fintech friends 👋,

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

• Africa’s NYSE-listed startup raised $99.6 Million.
• Nigeria’s B2B Payments platform raised $8 Million.
• Global B2B payments platform expanded to Africa with a $6 Million round.
• African VC turned its focus to West Africa after hard lessons in Ethiopia.
• Kenyan payments startup shutdown after M-pesa owner cut its api access.
• Court rejected IGP’s request to reverse billions allegedly withdrawn in the African most valuable fintech hack.

💸Fundraise and Exits

• Jumia raised $99.6 Million in a secondary share sale.
• waza raised $8 Million to power global trade for African businesses.

• Kredete, a digital lending marketplace startup, secured undisclosed funding from Launch Africa Ventures.

💰 Venture Funds

• After expensive lessons in Ethiopia, Renew Capital said now it wants to back West African startups.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• Conduit’s cross-border payments expanded from LatAm into Africa with a $6 Million round.

• Mastercard partnered with Scale to accelerate digital payment in Africa and the Middle East.
• DPO secured digital payment license from the Central Bank Of Kenya.

• The Central Bank Of Tanzania(BOT) launched a  Regulatory Sandbox for Fintech startups in Tanzania.

👔 Leadership Lineup

• Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan was reportedly being denied "adequate" access to his legal team, which has not been allowed into Kuje Prison to meet him since July 26, 2024.

📰 News of the Week

• PrivPay shutdown after Safaricom cut API access over compliance violations.

PrivPay, a Kenyan fintech that allowed customers to make M-PESA transactions without revealing their personal details, shut down in May 2023 after Safaricom cut its access to M-PESA APIs. Safaricom’s action was connected to a worry that the fintech’s offering violated several compliance issues, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

“Your business model is not permitted by Safaricom,” Safaricom wrote to PrivPay in May 2023 in a letter seen by TechCabal. Safaricom said PrivPay which claimed to have 30,000 users, contravened Kenya’s Anti-Money Laundering, Safaricom and asked that it obtain a payment service provider (PSP) license from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

👀 Eye Openers

How can we lower lending risk in Africa?1.Lend products instead of cash

2.

3.

4.

5.

Help us complete the list, and we will publish your thoughts in our next newsletter.

📑 Read of the week

• Most Lagosians earn less than Naira 100,000($63) monthly. (Techcabal)

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• Court rejected IGP’s request to reverse billions allegedly withdrawn in the Flutterwave hack.

• The mastermind behind Africa's largest cryptocurrency scam confirmed dead.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

• Lending: Interview with Zahid Mustapha, CEO of I&M Bank on the good, bad and ugly | Non banking lenders of Africa and the power of partnerships. 

🦉 Tweet of the Week

🎯 Fintech Opportunities

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

3 sponsors confirmed. 2 more slots remaining. If you’re keen, this is the time. Please reach out at wiza@thisweekinfintech.com.

Made in Tanzania 🇹🇿 with 💚

👍🏽👎🏽  Did you enjoy this edition of This Week In Fintech Africa? Please share your feedback with me on Twitter or LinkedIn .