Hi Fintech friends 👋,

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

• After raising the largest fintech funding round in Congo, the Startup secured additional funding from Visa.
• Egypt based VC planned to launch a new $200 Million fund.
• Nigeria dropped charges against the executive of the world's largest Crypto exchange platform.
• CEO and founder of the Nigeria based $10+ Million backed Remittance startup stepped down.
• Tanzania based Fintech launched an open banking platform to empower consumers with access to credits.

💸Fundraise and Exits

• Tuma secured additional funding from Visa at an undisclosed amount.

💰 Venture Funds

• Sawari Ventures planned to back more African startups with a new $200 million fund.
• Traction Apps all-stock acquisition added to a string of investor-led deals creating quick wins in Africa.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• Tanzania based Fintech Tausi launched an open banking platform to empower consumers on accessing credits.

👔 Leadership Lineup

• Leatherback co-founder and CEO Ibrahim Ibitade stepped down, and Toni Campbell was named interim CEO.Ibrahim Ibitade spoke on how cofounder misalignment led to his Leatherback exit and his eventful episode with EFCC.

📰 News of the Week

• Nigeria dropped charges against Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan after months of lobbying.

Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla were arrested in February 2024, shortly after arriving in Nigeria for a meeting with government officials. That meeting was supposed to defuse tensions between Nigeria and Binance after the country claimed the crypto company was responsible for FX volatility after the decision to float the naira. While the naira pared back some of its losses against the USD in April, it has since been on a slide.

While Nadeem escaped detention in Abuja earlier in the year, Gambaryan continued to be held despite pressure from the US government.

👀 Eye Openers

• Since September 2024, at least four Nigerian commercial banks have changed their core banking applications.Nigerian commercial banks spend at least $10 million each year. This suggests that the biggest Nigerian commercial banks; First Bank, UBA, GTBank, Access Bank, and Zenith will spend $50 million annually on their core banking applications.   On the other side, Stanbic Holdings Plc, Kenya’s sixth-largest bank with a market capitalization of $381 million recently has finalized an upgrade of its core banking application, Temenos 24 (T24 R23). 

• Is offering core banking services to banks and fintechs increasing in demand in Africa? Sterling Bank, Nigerian bank with market capitalization of $70 Million pitched SEABaaS, its custom core banking software to MTN MoMo, Fintechs and other banks.

What is the future of core banking service offerings in Africa? Should we expect to see new players in this segment? Let us know your thoughts, and we will publish them in our next newsletter.

📑 Read of the week

• Kamal Budhabhatti’s Journey from Mobile Banking to AI Transformation in Africa - Lessons for Digital Banking Platforms. (Frontier Fintech)

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• Open banking might harm borrower welfare by favoring fintech lenders.
• Nigerian fintech, Woven Finance, revealed what caused shutdown miscommunication in January.
• Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor Cardoso saw Nigeria's remittances rise to $12 billion: Thisday.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

• African Fintech Startups Tackling Real World Challenges.

🦉 Tweet of the Week

Few days ago Stripe acquired a stablecoin start-up Bridge for $1.1 Billion. Stone, CEO of Eversend insisted that 👇🏿

This comes after he shared on X in 2021 why stablecoins are the future of business payments 👇🏿

Two weeks ago Africa’s biggest Crypto startup raised $33 Million to scale its B2B - Stablecoins based payment services.

🎯 Fintech Opportunities

An opportunity to be a part of the largest special fintech event in Africa, taking place soon in South Africa and Ethiopia. Reach out to wiza@thisweekinfintech.com .

Made in Tanzania 🇹🇿 with 💚

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