Hi Fintech friends 👋

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

• A $2 million-backed crypto company acquired a $5 million-backed remittance company.
• African YC-backed company shut down.
• 3 African fintechs raised over $3 million in funding.
• There is a new $100 million fund coming into the African tech ecosystem.
• An African soonicorn is considering going public.
• African Unicorn secured new 13 Money transmission licenses in the US.

💸Fundraise and Exits

• YC-backed fintech Bujeti raised $2 million to help African businesses, including SMBs, startups and enterprises manage and handle finances.

• tappi raised $1.5 million pre-seed to digitize and help African SMEs find customers, build online presence, pay for ads using airtime and scale.

• Egyptian Fincart received a $10,000 grant from Visa and Commercial International Bank (CIB) to provide seamless shipping and financing for ecommerce businesses.

💰 Venture Funds

• Former Nigerian governor announced plans to launch a $100 million fund.

• The Mastercard Africa Growth Fund approved its $27 million investment in VestedWorld, Chui Ventures, and SME Impact Fund.
• Startupbootcamp AfriTech launched an investor syndicate to invest between US$3 million and US$5 million per year in African startups.
• WIC Capital secured $1 million to invest in female-led businesses in Francophone Africa.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• Flutterwave Secured 13 New Money Transmission Licenses in the U.S. and Services 29 States.

• Kippa transferred its agency banking product “KippaPay” which shut down in October, to Bloc.
• Fuse Network announced a $10 million grant aimed at supporting businesses to access Web3 payment systems.
• M-KOPA expanded to Ghana, unlocking $10 million in credit for customers.
• Nigerian SME lender Lidya shuttered its European business to focus on growing its new credit assessment and loan recovery offering for the Nigerian market.
• Flagright and Capi Money joined forces to bolster African business payments.

📰 News of the Week

• Bitmama acquired Nigerian fintech Payday in an all-equity deal.

In March 2023, Payday, secured a $3 million investment led by Moniepoint in an oversubscribed round. With a user base exceeding 100,000, Payday processed an average of 40,000 daily transactions, totaling over $25 million monthly. Despite receiving a $15 million acquisition offer in 2022, Payday CEO Ori revealed that it was turned down.

Fast forward nine months, Payday is now being acquired by Bitmama, an African crypto company, for $1 million worth of equity in crypto company at a $30 million valuation.The deal is currently in progress. The acquisition aligns with Bitmama’s plan to integrate Payday into its remittance product called Changera. According to TechCrunch, Bitmama has raised $2.5 million since inception, while Payday has raised $5.1 million since inception.

• YC-backed fintech Pivo Africa shut down

Founded in July 2021 by Nkiru Amadi-Emina and Ijeoma Akwiwu, Pivo raised over $2 million, disbursed more than $3 million to SMEs, and achieved a remarkable 98% repayment rate. The transaction volume on Pivo Business surged over 400% between April and September of the last year. Offering financial services, including credit, payments, and expense management to SME vendors within large manufacturing supply chains, Pivo was backed by notable investors like Y-Combinator, Precursor Ventures, Vested World, FoundersX, Microtraction, FirstCheck Africa, and Rally Cap Ventures.

Despite its impressive achievements, Pivo faced closure due to conflicts among its founders.

Pivo becomes the 10th African startup and the 4th fintech startup to shut down in 2023.

📑 Read of the week

• On Building Regardless of Failure (Joseph Benson - Aruna)
• A startup founder’s guide to crisis communication (Techpoint Africa)

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• $550 million-valued Moove mulling to go public, appointed Creditas CFO to spearhead financial growth.

• Lami failed to acquire Bluewave after disclosing the acquisition in 2022.
• The Nigerian regulator clamped down on unlicensed deposit-taking fintechs as concerns about fraud mount.

• The Kenyan government planned to start taxing crypto trading.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

• Interview with Eloho Omame, Cofounder of First Check, a Venture Capital firm giving women-led startups their first seed investments, its Portfolio include Cleva, Akiba, MoneyHash, Pivo, and Tushop .

🦉 Tweet of the Week

🎯 Fintech Opportunities 

• Post-revenue fintechs operating in Tanzania are invited to apply for the Pesa Tech Accelerator. This program focuses on supporting fintechs by providing access to networks, mentorship, and grant funding.
• Interswitch is hiring a Regional Head for Growth Marketing in East Africa.
• Palmpay is hiring a head of HR in Nigeria.

Made in Tanzania 🇹🇿 with 💚

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