Chipper Cash lands unicorn status with $150m Series C extension
The extension brings Chipper Cash’s total funding to date to over $305 million.
Nigeria
Standard Bank partners Flutterwave to boost digital financial services in Africa
Bank says the pandemic has caused a shift to digital payments across Africa.
Nigerian central bank launches eNaira CBDC
Central bank claims CBDC will boost financial inclusion in the continent’s most populous nation.
Exclusive: Nigeria’s Zenith Bank picks Oracle for worldwide tech overhaul
The lender is replacing existing Finastra systems with Oracle across multiple countries.
Nigerian central bank partners with Bitt to deliver new digital currency
The Barbadian fintech says digitising the Naira will benefit the entire Nigerian financial ecosystem.
OPay becomes Africa’s latest fintech unicorn with $400m Series C round
The Nigerian start-up says the new investment takes its valuation up to $2 billion.
Nigerian challenger Kuda raises $55m in Series B funding round
Kuda lands valuation of $500 million, and total raised of $91m.
Nigerian central bank plans October 2021 digital currency pilot
The central bank ordered the cessation of cryptocurrency exchange services in February.
Nigerian fintech FairMoney lands $42m Series B round
The start-up plans to “double down on growth in Nigeria and India”.
Chipper Cash raises $100m in SVB-led Series C round
Africa-focused P2P firm claims to be the continent’s most valuable start-up
FIS expands payment processing in Malaysia, South Africa and Nigeria
“Emerging markets across Southeast Asia and Africa present fresh opportunities”.
Nigerian fintech Appzone lands $10m for pan-African digital core banking solution
The Series A round was led by CardinalStone Capital Advisers.
Airtel Africa sells 25% stake in mobile money arm to Mastercard for $100m
Airtel Africa hopes to list the mobile money business as a separate entity.
Nigerian challenger Kuda Bank raises $25m in Series A funding
Neobank nabs more funding just four months after last round.
Fintech funding deals globally 8-14 March 2021
Featuring Stripe, Starling, BlockFi, Cedar, and Flutterwave.
Nigerian fintech Flutterwave lands unicorn status with $170m Series C
It is one of the few African start-ups to have secured more than $200 million in funding.
Netflix bags Uber’s product head Ebi Atawodi as payments director
Atawodi spent more than six years at Uber.
UK Black-owned challenger Atmen to launch in March
The start-up is now looking to raise £5 million from institutional investors.
Nigeria’s Xend Finance increases size of funding round to $2m
It initially launched its platform publicly late last year after raising $1.5 million in funding.
UK-Nigeria mobile wallet Sendit.Money goes crowdfunding
It has already exceeded its £100,000 target, having raised £146,006 at time of writing.
Nigeria’s central bank issues crypto shutdown throwing fintechs into disarray
Nigeria is one of the world’s largest users of virtual currencies.
Nigerian wealthtech Cowrywise raises $3m pre-Series A
The co-founders aim to democratise Nigerians’ access to savings and investment products.
Nigerian challenger bank Kuda raises $10m in seed funding
Kuda completes the largest seed round in Africa.
Prospa sets out to serve global diaspora of African entrepreneurs
The start-up’s sweet-spot customers are entrepreneurs and micro-SMEs.
Stripe acquires Nigerian start-up Paystack in $200m deal
Paystack has 60,000 business customers across Nigeria and Ghana.
Nigerian fintech Lidya lends $3m to SMEs in Eastern Europe
The fintech start-up expanded into the region during the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Ingressive doubles African tech start-up fund to $10m
Ingressive averages $200,000 to $400,000 in individual investments.
P2P payments app Chipper Cash lands $13.8m
The San Francisco-based start-up operates across seven African countries.
Nigerian fintech KiaKia launches P2P lending investment app
Until this announcement, its P2P lending investment service has been exclusive.
Former Diamond Bank CEO launches Nigerian start-up Sparkle
Sparkle already has a banking license from Nigeria’s central bank.
Oracle gains three new Flexcube customers in Nigeria, Thailand, and Laos
Technology vendor also reveals 13 go-lives for Q4 2020.
Nigerian open banking fintech Okra raises $1m from TLcom
“We’re opening the door to another level of innovation,” says founder.
Jumia steps in to assist Africa amid rising coronavirus numbers
Jumia will help various African governments distribute masks to hospitals.
Inclusion, innovation, and mobile money in Sub-Saharan Africa
“If our systems fail, a big part of the economy would fail,” says exec.
Visa teams up with Nigeria’s Paga
Lagos-based Paga holds more than 14 million customers across Nigeria.
Nigerian fintech start-up Aella raises $10m
This debt financing round is Aella’s second raise.
Catalyst Fund raises $15m from JP Morgan and UK Aid for emerging market fintechs
Thirty fintech start-ups from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, India and Mexico will get funding.
Nigerian paytech Flutterwave raises $35m, partners with Worldpay
Flutterwave has become Worldpay’s only African payments partner.
Jumia to close Rwandan business
It comes just weeks after it exited Cameroon and Tanzania.
Trulioo opens GlobalGateway to Nigeria and Ghana
Nigeria & Ghana have taken significant steps toward increasing access to digitisation.
