Amidst legal troubles in Kenya, Flutterwave lands two licences in Rwanda
The unicorn’s latest push in Rwanda follows its bid to expand across East Africa.
Africa
Nigerian fintech FairMoney acquires PayForce for undisclosed sum
FairMoney is looking to expand its offering to include features for merchants as well as retail customers.
Africa-focused escrow service Truzo launches in the UK
Truzo says it will close its next round of funding in Q2 2023.
Egypt’s Banque Misr inks payments partnership with Mastercard
The partnership will see Mastercard equip Banque Misr with the latest digital payment technologies.
Central Bank of Nigeria publishes open banking guidelines
The central bank had first begun work on the adoption of open banking in June 2017.
Tintra to set up banking hub in Rwanda for new emerging markets bank
Tintra is in the process of establishing a subsidiary and applying for a licence with the National Bank of Rwanda.
Business banking fintech Moniepoint names Pawel Swiatek COO
Swiatek joins Moniepoint from Capital One, where he served as managing vice president for over four years.
Africa’s Ecobank Group names Jeremy Awori as CEO
Awori brings more than 25 years of banking industry experience to the leadership role, Ecobank says.
MFS Africa partners Western Union to broaden financial inclusion
The service will see funds from across the globe move through payment rails operated by MFS Africa.
Thought Machine plans to boost headcount by 20% in 2023
Thought Machine intends to hire across India, Japan and South Africa for the first time.
Copal launches Egypt’s first family payments app with Mastercard
Copal aims to provide a “seamless and innovative” cashless payments experience for all family members.
KCB Bank Kenya taps Sopra Banking Software for digital transformation
Sopra Banking Software will design, build and support the bank’s savings and lending products.
African paytech Chipper Cash sheds around a third of its workforce
More than 100 employees at the firm have been affected, Techweez reports.
African ID verification platform Smile Identity nabs $20m Series B
The latest funding round brings Smile Identity’s total capital raised to date to $31 million.
Ghana’s Fortek partners Codebase for Digibanc platform
It is hoped the partnership will “accelerate digitisation” and boost entrepreneurship in Africa.
South Africa to pilot national rapid payments programme this year
The national payment system forms part of South Africa’s Vision 2025 programme.
South African digital lender Lulalend bags $35m Series B
Lulalend will look to increase its loan book size and develop new products.
Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan lands $400m investment
MNT-Halan claims it is the largest investment across Egypt and the Middle East over the past 12 months.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Ascendant, Evergreen, Kwara, Pilon & more
Featuring Ascendant, Evergreen, Komunal, Kwara, Pilon, and Sprinque.
New paytech Enza launches in Africa
Enza aims to provide payment solutions to firms that want to enable customers to accept or make digital payments.
Africa’s Flutterwave reportedly in bid to acquire British fintech Railsr
An insider reportedly told Sky News that there was “heavy competition for the asset”.
Fintech Galaxy snaps up Egypt’s Underlie to boost regional open finance
Fintech Galaxy will leverage Underlie’s open banking APIs expertise to speed up market penetration in Egypt.
NetGuardians tapped by Bank of Africa for fraud prevention software
NetGuardians says building out an “anti-fraud culture” is essential to the growth of pan-African banking.
Visa to invest $1bn in Africa to boost digital transformation
Visa says the move will enable “greater access” to digital payments in the region.
MICT completes acquisition of African agri-fintech firm Tingo
MICT owns “100% of the operating business and assets” of Tingo after snapping up Tingo Mobile.
Investec taps Surecomp for its digital trade finance tech
Surecomp’s tech will support Investec’s newly formed trade finance business.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Buckzy, FrankieOne and Ejara
A handy round-up of the recent funding endeavours of fintech companies across the globe.
Kenya’s DeltaPay taps Provenir for data and risk decisioning platform
DeltaPay leverages alternative data to expand financial access to affordable consumer credit.
Kuda launches in the UK with tell.money’s open banking compliance tech
Kuda says its UK launch “is the first step in its global expansion to serve overseas based Nigerians”.
Egypt’s Banque Misr lands $160m from the African Development Bank to finance SMEs
The loan consists of a $130m credit facility and $30m from the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF).
Egyptian consumer credit start-up Blnk lands $32m in funding
Blnk’s lending platform enables merchants to underwrite and finance customers’ purchases at the point of sale.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Ping, Agent IQ, Atlar and more
A handy round-up of this week’s fintech funding news from around the world.
North African super-app Yassir lands $150m to fuel expansion
The new funding brings the total capital raised by Yassir to around $193 million since launch.
Lendtech Ezra appoints Erwan Gelebart as new CEO
Gelebart has spent the past 14 years working for digital financial services firms across Africa and Asia.
RMB Nigeria names Dalu Ajene as new CEO
In his new role, Ajene has been tasked with facilitating greater foreign capital flows.
Egyptian fintech Money Fellows lands $31m Series B funding
The new funds will be put towards product development and international expansion across Africa and Asia.
Africa’s Cellulant partners Mastercard for online e-commerce payments
Cellulant’s customers can now pay online wherever Mastercard is accepted via the Tingg wallet.
Housing Finance Bank in core banking tech overhaul
Uganda-based Housing Finance Bank will implement Flexcube from Oracle FS.
Egyptian fintech Telda lands $20m seed funding
The round was led by Global Founders Capital with participation from Sequoia Capital and Block.
UBCI revamps corporate banking tech with Finastra and Tesselate
Union Bancaire pour le Commerce et l’Industrie (UBCI) modernises trade and cash management tech.
