African fintechs Appzone, Numida, Tanda, Peach Payments & BezoMoney secures funding plus other partnerships and acquisitions.

Last week, Week 15 (April 12 – 18, 2021) Africa’s fintech industry raised a series of investment and recorded new partnerships and acquisitions. Appzone, Numida, Tanda, Peach Payments and Bezo Money got funding. While Spot money partnered with Pargo for its card delivery, Forter partnered with Flutterwave for e-commerce fraud prevention and Zeepay acquired a 51 per cent stake in Mangwee Mobile Money.

AppZone Secures $10m Series A Funding.

Appzone, a Pan-African fintech software provider headquartered in Nigeria, announced the close of its $10mn Series A round led by Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers with participation from V8 Capital, Lateral Investment Partners, Constant Capital, and Itanna Capital Ventures.

According to Appzone, the funding will bolster investment in Appzone’s core technologies and kick off a wave of expansions to new countries. Currently, Appzone’s clients spread across Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), Tanzania, Senegal and Guinea. To date, the company has raised $15m in equity funding with previous investors including Lateral Capital, GreenHouse Capital, Timon Capital and Itanna. In 2018, the Appzone got approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as a Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP).

Founded in 2008, AppZone builds products for digital core banking and interbank transaction processing with clients across seven African countries including high-profile names like Access Bank, GT Bank and Zenith Bank. Appzone platforms currently serve 18 commercial banks and over 450 microfinance banks, amassing a yearly transaction value and yearly loan disbursement of $2bn and $300mn, respectively. 

Numida closes USD 2.3 million seed round led by MFS Africa.

Uganda-based fintech startup Numida has secured $2.3-million in a seed funding round led by MFS Africa with participation from DRK Foundation, Equilibria Capital, and Segal Family Foundation alongside angel investors.

Founded in 2016, Numida provides unsecured digital loans to African small businesses. It offers financial service to small business owners financially excluded and unable to access credit through the formal banking channel. Operating via an easy-to-use app, business owners can access unsecured working capital loans of up to $3500 within two hours via the app. 

The fintech plans to use the funding to expand in Uganda, to pilot its product offering in a new market, and launch new products. Numida will tap into MFS Africa’s pan-African experience and use its infrastructure to launch new digital financial products for SMMEs across the MFS Africa footprint.

Tanda secures funding to expand regionally.

Tanda, a Kenyan agency banking startup has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Cape Town-based venture capital HAVAíC, Zedcrest Capital, DFS Lab, Victor Asemota, and three other investors.

According to Tanda, the funds will aid their expansion across East Africa, starting with Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda within the next 24 months. In addition, Tanda has secured strategic partnerships with Mastercard and Interswitch, both of which will assist in the fintech’s growth. 

Tanda is an independent agent network operator based in Kenya. Since its inception in 2018, Tanda has enabled banks, Telcos, and a variety of digital service providers to serve their customers through a nationwide network of commission-based agents, with distribution costs that are a fraction of traditional channels. Tanda agents are access points for Airtime, Utility payments, and M-banking along with Insurance for their customers.

Tanda supports 58 banks and SACCOs, four telecoms, 18 billers, 12,000 merchants and agents, and has served over 300,000 unique customers.

The fintech plans to grow its footprint in Kenya to 100 000 agents and merchants with an additional expansion into the Ugandan, Tanzania, and Rwandan market within the next 24 months.

Why is this important?

Last week Mastercard took a stake in Airtel mobile money. This Tanda partnership with Mastercard furthers their Mastercard interest in diversifying into mobile money. 

Peach Payments eyes Africa expansion after a new funding round.

South Africa Payment fintech Peach Payments has received additional funding for an undisclosed amount in the latest round of investment in the business.

According to Peach payment, the funding round led by Umkhathi Wethu Ventures (UW Ventures) in partnership with Allan Gray, other existing investors and Pan-African venture fund Launch Africa Ventures. 

Peach Payments provides a payment gateway, allowing businesses to accept payments on Web sites, mobile apps, SMS and e-mail. It gives them access to payment methods, including credit/debit cards, bank transfers, mobile wallets, electronic wallets and mobile operator billing.

While scaling up current operations in SA, Kenya and Mauritius, Peach payment is eyeing expansion to other East and West African countries.

Spot Money partners with Pargo to deliver its physical debit cards for free.

Newly launched South Africa fintech startup Spot Money has partnered with local logistics startup Pargo to effectively and efficiently deliver the Spot debit cards to clients across South Africa. 

Founded at the start of 2021, Spot Money is South Africa’s first Open Bank service offering a one-stop-single customer-centric platform. The service is delivered through a ‘Super App’ which works hand-in-hand with the Mastercard developed physical card. The physical card enables users to tap-and-pay at selected Mastercard retailers promoting contactless payment method. Spot Money centres its services around the use of its app, enabling users to access a range of services such as free money transfers between Spot Money users, contactless payments, loans, and insurance products. 

Pargo is the leading click-and-collect and returns solution for online and omnichannel businesses. It has over 2500 pickup points for customers to collect or return a parcel and adopts a flat rate for deliveries and returns anywhere in South Africa.

The partnership between the two tech startups will enable Spot Money users to order their debit card directly via the Super App. Users can have their Spot money debit cards delivered to them by Pargo or collect their Spot Money debit cards at any of the 100 Pargo Pickup points in Clicks stores across South Africa. According to Spot, this partnership with Pargo gives them access to a simple, cost-effective distribution solution that ensures safe delivery of its debit cards safe and provides reach for a wider consumer base, which traditional delivery methods don’t allow for.

Why is this important?

Mastercard powers spot money. Mastercard is in a frenzy in enabling digital payment in Africa. This is also an unusual partnership between a financial institution and a delivery business. With the infrastructure deficit in Africa, this is not unusual. In Nigeria, to provide for the postage challenge, banks produce instant card while the account owner is in the bank. Before the instant card technology, account holders return to the bank on specified days to pick up their card. Since spot Money is app-based without a branch infrastructure, this partnership is essential to get its cards to its users.

Ghana fintech BezoMoney secures $200,000 in seed funding.            

Ghana startup BezoMoney has secured two hundred thousand dollars (US$200,000) in a seed funding round led by Goodsoil VC, a venture capital firm based in London.

According to BezoMoney, the funding will be used to acquire a Payment and Financial Technology Service Providers (PFTSP) license in Ghana, build and deploy new products including BezoCredit and BezoInvest as well as grow its existing user base, expand its team, and scale across the country.

Founded in 2019, BezoMoney builds and provides digital financial services and products for the unbanked and younger consumers with the goal to help the unbanked gain upward social mobility. In Africa's remote villages, some are financially excluded because of the inability to build verifiable credit histories, even though they save and access credit through informal financial schemes. BezoMoney exists to bridge that gap.

Zeepay Ghana acquires Mangwee Mobile Money in Zambia.

Zeepay Ghana acquired a 51 per cent stake in Mangwee Mobile Money in Zambia. The deal makes Zeepay Ghana the majority shareholder of the entity.

According to Zeepay, the move to invest in Mangwee is part of their global strategy to expand its footprint across Africa, to better serve our global clients and reduce the cost of remittance into Africa.

Mangwee is a mobile money transfer platform aimed at increasing the rate of financial inclusion, especially in rural areas and propelling Zambia and Africa to a cash-light economy. They do this through the provision of a secure and affordable payment platform. The Mangwee platform is not just a mobile money transfer platform, but an ecosystem of applications aimed at making people’s lives easy. It has an assortment of innovative applications targeted at improving the lives of Women Farmers, Youths, and the poor.

Zeepay is a Ghanaian fintech focusing on building digital rails to connect digital assets such as mobile money wallets, cards, ATMs, Bank Accounts and Digital tokens to International Money Transfer Operators, Payments, Subscriptions, International Airtime and Refugee payments. Zeepay is available in 23 countries. The company specialises in paying remittances into mobile money wallets across Africa and is regulated by both Bank of Ghana as an EMI issuer and in the UK as a Money Transfer Operator, by the Financial Conduct Authority. The merger is the first of its kind among two indigenous African Mobile Money fintechs.

Forter Partners with Flutterwave for e-commerce fraud prevention.

Forter, the leader in e-commerce fraud prevention, has announced a partnership with Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company. The partnership will enable merchants to identify legitimate buyers from fraudsters, resulting in increased transaction approvals and reduced friction in the purchasing experience, all without the fear of fraud.

This partnership connects over 290,000 businesses on Flutterwave with Forter’s global network to approve more legitimate online transactions and block fraud instantaneously.

For Forter headquartered in New York with a presence in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, this partnership has also paved the way for their entry into the Africa market. Flutterwave also has access to Forter’s coalition of merchants, payment providers and banks fighting fraud on a global scale, using AI and ML technology to help foster e-commerce growth in a market with huge potential.

Forter has raised over $200M capital from top-tier Venture Capitals, including Sequoia, Bessemer, Scale, and Salesforce. As a US fraud management solution, Forter competes with BehavioSec, Silver Tail Systems and Cybersource decision manager.

***About: I've spent the last 12 years building experience in Business Development, Partnerships, Strategy & Operations spanning across Africa. I'm highly passionate about Financial Technology and Digital Innovation in the African Payment Space. I enjoy working with high performing teams to build innovative solutions. Solving the "how" of Strategic Implementation/Vision challenges related to businesses, products or partnerships is of utmost interest. If you've enjoyed this piece, don't hesitate to like, leave a comment and share the article with others.