Hi Fintech friends 👋, 

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

• Two Fintech deals worth over $8 Million were announced.
• African based VC received $30 Million to back African startups with checks between $250K and $2 Million.
• An African based cryptocurrency partnered with the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume.
• World’s payment giant launched virtual cards in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Nigerian half-Unicorn entered the merchant-acquiring segment.

💸 Fundraise and Exits

• YC-backed African fintech Clevabanking raised $1.5 Million to enable African individuals and businesses receive international payments for their skills and products.

• Sunking raised $7 Million in Debt to allow more low-income consumers across Africa access clean energy solutions through its pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financing model.

💰 Venture Funds

• Seedstars Africa Ventures received $30M in backing to invest between $250K to $2 million in early-stage startups.

• Ethiopia’s first VC-backed incubator, weVenture, planned to bolster early-stage startups.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• Onboard launched in Kenya.

• Mastercard and Rawbank’s illicocash partnered to launch virtual cards in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

• Kuda ventured into the merchant-acquiring segment with the launch of its Kuda POS terminals.

📰 News of the Week

• Coinbase partnered with stablecoin exchange Yellow Card in African expansion.

$56 million backed Yellow Card, an African focused stablecoin exchange, has partnered with Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, to provide easy access to USDC and digital assets in 20 African countries

This integration would enable Coinbase wallet users to use payment methods available in over 20 African countries.On the other hand, the partnership allows Yellow Card customers to send and receive USDC via Coinbase's Layer 2 solution, Base. The Base chain, launched in August 2023. 

Also earlier this year, Yellow Card partnered with Tether to Advance Stablecoin Education and Adoption Among African Youth.

📑 Read of the week

• How Africa-focused VCs are turning to secondary markets for liquidity lifelines (Techcabal)

• Central Bank Of Nigeria Approved Naira Stablecoin For 2024 Launch (Forbes)
• The storm is the time to fish (Teshmbaabu)

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• Woven Finance, the Coronation Group-backed fintech startup, denied shutting down.

• “One or two” tech startups might list on the Nigerian Exchange Group tech board this year with rule changes imminent.
• Wasoko and MaxAB aimed to cut overlapping workforce as merger talks advanced.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

• Interview with Iain Usiri, co-founder and CEO of Ramani on how they digitize and finance micro-distribution centers of category leading brands. Ramani is backed by Y-Combinator, Launch Africa and other prominent investors. 

🦉 Tweet of the Week

🎯 Fintech Opportunities

• Ebanx Africa is hiring for a Treasury Specialist.
• FairMoney is hiring for a Fraud Manager.
• Klasha is hiring for Customer Success Executive.
  

Made in Tanzania 🇹🇿 with 💚

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