Hi Fintech friends 👋,

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

• Two Fintechs announced funding deals.
• The issuer of the largest stablecoin backed a MENA startup to help African B2B businesses make cross-border payments faster and cheaper.
• South Africa’s investment firm adopted Bitcoin as a strategic treasury asset.
• Nigeria’s investment Tech platform secured US broker-dealer license to provide users with easy access to U.S. securities
•  Ex-Nigeria Neo Bank employee sued the company over gender discrimination and wrongful termination allegations.
• Nigeria sued World’s largest Cryptoexchange for $81.5bn, 30% over the exchange's valuation.

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This Week in FintechSabrina Baxter

💸Fundraise and Exits

• Ghanaian fintech startup Oze secured an undisclosed funding round to scale lending solutions.

💰 Venture Funds

• South African investment firm Altvest Capital announced its decision to adopt Bitcoin as a strategic treasury asset.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• OnePipe launched a new Pay with Account solution to ease cash flow struggles for Nigerian small businesses.

• Risevest secured U.S. broker-dealer license to provide users with easy access to U.S. securities

👔 Leadership Lineup

• Ex-Kuda executive sued the company over gender discrimination, wrongful termination allegations.

• After stepping down as CEO, Leatherback founder resurfaced with a rival fintech startup.

📰 News of the Week

• Tether backed stablecoin liquidity provider Mansa in $10M seed round

Mansa allows payments companies, mainly in Africa to date, to settle transactions and fund customer accounts instantly.

Mansa has disbursed over $18 million in payments financed to its clients, with access to over $200 million in liquidity through its partner network.its transaction volume has surged since launching six months ago, from $1.6 million last August to $11 million in January, compounding at a monthly growth rate of 37.5%. It has processed nearly $31 million in that period. 

👀 Eye Openers

• Why do some African fintech markets produce unicorns while others struggle to scale?

📑 Read of the week

• Stablecoins: Leapfrogging Africa's Financial System(Hashed Emergent)
  

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• Kuda Bank raised an undisclosed equity round in 2024.It’s group company, Kuda Group grew revenue to $32.1 million in 2023 as total losses jumped to $40 million.
• Nigeria sued Binance for $81.5bn, 30% over the exchange's valuation.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

• Interview with CEO and Founder of Flutterwave;  Lessons on Building Africa's Most Valuable Fintech.

🦉 Tweet of the Week

🎯 Fintech Opportunities

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

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