2022 Startup Funding in Africa Hits $4B, Ethiopia Approves Roll out of M-Pesa, Algebra Ventures Announces $100M First Close of Second Fund and More
Africa Fintech Summit
The global initiative dedicated to building an ecosystem of investors, pioneers, industry leaders in African Fintech.
What's inside?
? Ethiopia approves roll out?of Safaricom's M-Pesa?
? Startup investment in Africa hits $4B USD year-to-date
? Egypt's Algebra Ventures marks $100M USD first close of 2nd fund?
? Google selects South Africa as its first cloud region in Africa
AND MORE!
Making the news
Ethiopia approves the launch of Safaricom's M-Pesa, opening one of the world's largest mobile money platforms to a market of 110 million people?
Announced earlier today at Safaricom Ethiopia's launch event in Addis Ababa and attended by both Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President William Ruto, the approval by Ethiopian regulators means that Safaricom will be able to seek a license for its M-Pesa service. M-Pesa will have to compete directly with Ethio Telecom's Telebirr, a service launched in May 2021.?Learn more.?
Google selects South Africa as its first cloud region in Africa?
South Africa will join 35 other global cloud regions and 106 zones worldwide. Google has also announced that it is developing Dedicated Cloud Interconnect sites in Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town, and Johannesburg while also tapping into its Equiano private undersea cable to power its sites and better connect Africa and Europe.?Learn more.?
African venture capital investment hits $4B USD mark
The African Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (AVCA) stated in their recent report that the continent can expect to witness $7B USD this year spread across 900 deals. In 2021, the continent saw $5.3B USD in startup investment across 650 different deals. While Q3 '22 has seen a decline in investment momentum, reaching $7B remains a high threshold however just the other day, funding was reported to surpass $4B USD, according to data published by?Africa: The Big Deal?database.?Learn more.?
Startup & Funding Activity
?Egypt?- IoT startup,?CardoO, raises $660K USD?as the startup plans to be a leading brand of Smart Devices across the Middle East and North Africa?
?Egypt?- Gaming startup,?Cryptyd, raises undisclosed funding?round to assist with the development of new game targeting global markets?
?Kenya?- Agency banking startup,?Tanda, raises pre-Series A?with the support of South African VC,?HAVAíC, and DFS Lab
?Nigeria?- PropTech startup,?Spleet, raises $2.6M USD?to help the company scale its rent management and rent financing solutions
?South Africa?- Crowd-farming startup,?Livestock Wealth, raises $550K USD?to expand its platform that connects farmers with agricultural asset investors?
?South Africa?- International calling app,?Talk360, secures additional $3M USD?(total $7M USD) seed round as the company prepares to launch pan-African payments platform
Investor Activity
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Featured Articles
Open banking could be what Africa needs to deepen financial inclusion - Faustine Ngila in Quartz Africa?
"Open banking, the practice of sharing third-party access to financial data through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) within data privacy rules is gradually gaining prominence in Africa, which still grapples with several pain points in payments."?Continue reading.?
Quote of the Week
"With embedded finance, every company has the potential to become a fintech. It doesn't matter if you are in HealthTech, AgTech or EdTech, at the end of the day the company will need a way to facilitate transactions. This is making fintech as a whole more of a horizontal than a vertical."?
Eslam Darwish (Founding General Partner, Nclude)?
Spotlight: AFTSCapeTown
AFTSCapeTown is November 2-4, 2022?
This November's summit will be the largest AFTS yet with partners including Visa, Flutterwave, TeamApt, Ecobank, Fintech Association of South Africa, Wesgro, and many more! Don't miss out on early-bird prices -?REGISTER?now and save 25% with the code AFTSCapeTown2022!?
See the full list of speakers coming to #AFTSCapeTown?on our website.
AFTS in the headlines
NEW PODCAST EPISODE!?
After a brief summer hiatus, the Africa Fintech Rising podcast is back! This week, Andrew sits down with Yves Eonnet, Co-Founder & Chairman of Skaleet, to discuss the role of core banking platforms in continental fintech and also diving into what the future of banking looks like across Africa.?Listen Now
AFTS works with Ecobank and African Media Agency for AMA Academy's first Pan-African Fintech Training?and Awards for global journalists
AFTS co-founder, Zekarias Amsalu, led a workshop earlier this week, training journalists from around the globe?about the history of financial technology in Africa and how the industry is evolving to solve various pain points including cross-border payments, financial inclusion, and creating opportunities for wealth creation. The academy's entire curriculum is taught in a series of 5 workshops giving journalists the opportunity to strengthen their industry specific knowledge and expertise.?Learn more.?