Moove Acquires Brazil's Kovi, Stablecoin Payments Platform Cedar Money Raises $9.9M, SA's Stitch Expands Into In-person Payments, and More
Africa Fintech Summit
The global initiative dedicated to building an ecosystem of investors, pioneers, industry leaders in African Fintech.
Hello, dear AWFR readers and friends.
The African startup ecosystem had a great start in raising?$216M in January 2025,?while the week brought a wave of unexpected AI disruption by?Deepseek?that has implications for Africa, as highlighted below. Our 2025 theme of From Africa to the World is also well exemplified this week by the acquisition?of a LATAM startup by?African startup Moove?and solidifying its place globally. Enjoy reading!?
What's inside?
The AI Model Disruption?& What it Means for Africa
It was a week of AI craze & shock as?Deepseek, a one-year-old startup in China, released its low-cost and yet powerful open-source R1 model last Monday. The AI model possesses all the familiar abilities of OpenAI’s, Google’s or Meta’s popular AI models but is operating at a fraction of the cost of the Western models as the startup revealed it only spent $5.6M on computing power for its base model versus billions of dollars US startups spend on AI technologies, and hence?sending US stocks plunging and chipmaker Nvidia losing?nearly $600 billion in market value?in a day - to contextualize, that is around 941 Trillion Nigerian Naira or 9 Trillion Ghanian Cedi.? The fact that a one-year-old startup can release such a powerful AI tool and disrupt the global market proves that innovation breakthroughs can come from anywhere in the globe, and the success of a startup doesn't necessarily directly correlate with the size of the external funding.?
What does this mean for Africa and African AI startups?
Africa is not new to AI innovations & breakthrough outcomes, and there are a number of African AI startups that have and continue to come up with products and services that are impactful and phenomenal. As of Dec 2024, there are some 53 African AI startups that have raised around $83M in external funding in 100+ rounds. Given the relatability of Deepseek's success story to the AI startup ecosystem in Africa, we are listing some of the notable African AI startups here below. How many of these, and other upcoming African AI startups will be 'the next Deepseek' of the AI space? Share your thoughts!?
Notable African AI Startups - A Sampler ?
InstaDeep (Tunisia) -?Founded in 2015, InstaDeep provides self-learning decision-making systems and has raised $107 million before it was acquired by European BioNtech for $680M in 2023. Has co-created an AI-powered Early Warning System (EWS) for detecting high-risk SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as created DeepChain, a?protein design platform that tackles the most complex challenges across a range of industries.?
Icob Labs?(Ethiopia) -? A Startup of a team of visionary software professionals dedicated to advancing the frontier of artificial intelligence research and applications. They have developed the emotional activities, expression and also an engine called cognitive engine for the humanoid robot Sophia.?
Sama (Kenya) -?Established in 2008, Sama offers high-quality training data to power AI technologies, with a total funding of $84.8 million.
DataProphet (South Africa) -?Launched in 2013, DataProphet is a leading global AI provider for Industry 4.0, focusing on improving quality and yield in manufacturing. The company has secured $16 million in funding. ?
Zindi (Mauritius) -?Founded in 2018, Zindi hosts a community of data scientists on an online competition platform aimed at solving Africa’s toughest problems. ? ?
DXwand (Egypt) -?Established in 2018, DXwand has developed?ORXTRA Generative AI platform that is designed for and used by the most regulated industries.?
RxAll (Nigeria) -?Founded in 2016, RxAll is a multiple-award-winning deep learning-hyperspectral IoT platform for authenticating drugs in real-time & has raised $3.15M in 2021.??
Yemaachi Biotechnology (Ghana) -?Launched in 2020, Yemaachi is a biotech company working to lower the economic burden of cancer and has secured $25M in funding?to advance research on cancer inequities.?
Curacel (Nigeria) - Founded?in 2017, Curacel is an AI-powered platform for claims processing and fraud management in Africa and has raised $3M in seed funding.???
Amini (Kenya) -?Established in 2023, Amini is a startup that uses artificial intelligence and satellite technology to bridge Africa’s environmental data gap and has raised $4M in seed round.?
ATLAN Space (Morocco) -?Founded in 2016, ATLAN Space employs AI to enable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to carry out tracking missions with complete autonomy and has raised $1.1M?in seed funding.?
WetroCloud?( Nigeria ) -? A startup providing AI-powered real-time fraud detection for the financial industry.?
And.....Notable African AI Investors ?
Resilience17 (US/Africa) - Founded by Flutterwave's Co-Founder 'GB' in 2021,?Resilience17 is a $35M+ venture studio and fund on a mission to accelerate African AI leapfrog. It has?launched?an AI Accelerator to help ambitious, globally focused teams build and launch AI products.
LoftyInc Capital?(US/Nigeria) - Founded in 2011 and backing early-stage Afropreneurs building tech-enabled solutions for the “everyday economy,” including AI startups.?
Launch Africa? (South Africa) - Launch Africa is?a leading Pan-African VC fund that is solving the significant funding gap in the Seed and pre-Series A investment landscape in Africa, including the AI space.
QUOTES OF THE?WEEK
highlighting the major theme of the weekly news!?
Making the News!
Tunisia - Proparco invests $10.4m in a fund dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from AfricInvest, a long-standing partner and major player in impact investing in Africa.
US - Crypto Momentum in the U.S as Ripple secured key Money Transmitter Licenses (MTLs) in New York and Texas—two states where Ripple has seen strong demand for real-time global payments from both banks and crypto businesses—bringing the total to more than 50 MTLs.
Tunisia - i3’s Investment Boost: Backed by the Gates Foundation, i3 is set to invest $1.6 million to foster innovation in Africa’s health sector.?The initiative will give $50,000 equity-free grants to ten early-stage startups and up to $225,000 each to five early-stage startups who are solving problems in healthcare delivery, pharmacy services, and product distribution.?
Visualization of the Week
At the height of an intensified AI battle between new emerging innovative AI startups and global giants, CB Insights has this week released a report entitled What DeepSeek’s model releases mean for the future of AI, in which the below 2024 AI funding visualization is provided!?
Featured Read
Techcrunch's Africa reporter Tage has released an insightful article on Stablecoins, and emerging Markets entitled?Stablecoins are finding product-market fit in emerging markets?that has insights from AFTS Co-Founder Zekarias on Stablecoin's regulatory and use case space in Africa. Enjoy reading!?
M&A Activities??
Brazil - From Africa to the World: Moove’s Strategic Acquisition Uber-backed Moove, an Africa-born mobility fintech that offers vehicle financing to ride-hailing and delivery app drivers across six continents, has acquired Kovi, a Brazilian urban mobility provider. Moove was the Excellence in Fintech Award winner at AFTSNairobi24 under the Fintech Investment of the Year category.
South Africa -?Stitch: Expanding into In-person Payments with the Acquisition of Exipay Stitch is expanding into in-person payments with the launch of Stitch Exipay, aiming to enhance payment solutions across Africa after its acquisition of Exipay.
Nigeria? -?GO54’s Nigerian Entry HOSTAFRICA, a web hosting provider in Africa, recently announced the completion of its acquisition of GO54, a major Nigerian competitor. The deal, which brings together over 200,000 customers across the continent, positions HOSTAFRICA as the dominant player in the African web hosting market.
领英推荐
Banking & Telcom Activity
Rwanda: African Central Banks’ Digital Transformation
The central banks of Rwanda and Ghana are working towards linking their national payment switches and establish a fintech licensing passport?system between the two countries, reported The Banker.??
Nigeria: CBN and NIBSS Tackle Fraud
The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN)?and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System(NIBSS)?are intensifying efforts to combat fraud in the banking sector.??To curb fraud in the financial services sector, CBN has directed NIBSS?to debit the settlement accounts of commercial banks that receive fraud proceeds. The directive, effective January 2025, signals a shift towards greater accountability for banks, compelling them to tighten their fraud detection measures, reports TechCabal.
Nigeria: Stanbic's?Fintech Investment into Zest Payment
Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, the Nigerian arm of Standard Bank Group, is set to strengthen its fintech subsidiary, Zest Payments Limited, with a ?4 billion ($2.48 million) capital injection. This move follows the company’s ?148.71 billion capital-raising initiative.
Nigeria:??Nigerian Fintechs Revamp
Nigerian fintech companies are revamping their strategies to stay competitive in the evolving financial landscape as?Moniepoint, OPay and PalmPay responded to the 2024 ban with better data collection and compliance. Read more at TechCabal.
Startup Activity
US?- Cedar Money’s Stablecoin Move: Cedar Money, a stablecoin payment platform focused on emerging markets, including Africa, has secured $9.9 million?in seed funding to enhance its services.
Algeria -?Launch Africa’s Investment in ValuFI: Launch Africa has invested in ValuFI, an Algerian e-wallet Fintech startup.??
South Africa?-? Insight Terra’s Funding Round: Insight Terra has secured $5.7 million in funding to scale its climate tech platform.
Guinea?- Cauridor’s Cross-Border Payment Solution: Cauridor, that recently raised $3.5M funding,?is addressing cross-border payment challenges in Francophone Africa with innovative solutions..?
Nigeria?- Njiapay’s Pre-Seed Funding: Njiapay has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding to transform payment solutions across Africa.
Rwanda?- Pula's Insuretech?Move: Bayer and African Insuretech Pula Foundation partner up to insure 10 million smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.?By the end of 2030, Bayer’s grant for insurance premium support of 10 million euros will unlock a potential insurance coverage of 127 million U.S. dollars for 10 million smallholder farmers?
Egypt?- Fincart, a platform that helps e-commerce SMBs improve shipping and unlock working capital, has closed an undisclosed pre-seed round of funding to improve its tech platform and grow its courier network.
AFTS Community Activity
USA?- Visa’s New Partnership:? Social network X announced a partnership with AFTSNairobi24?Excellence in Enablement award winner Visa?to handle person-to-person payments for its upcoming X Money product.
Nigeria?- Africa Leading in Crypto Adoption: Africa's Stablecoin powered Exchange YellowCard's CEO Maurice discusses how Africa continues to lead in cryptocurrency adoption, highlighting the continent’s innovative financial landscape in his interview with CNBC.?
Egypt?- AFTSNairobi24's?Excellence in Embedded Financial Technology?award winner MDP, an end-to-end payment solution provider in the MENA region, has collaborated with MINT Incubator, an initiative by EGBANK to support early-stage startup founders.
US -?AFTSNairobi24 VIP Dinner Co-Sponsor & Speaker?Circle, a global financial technology company and stablecoin market leader, has announced that USDC Circulation Soars 78% Year-Over-Year in its?2025 State of the USDC Economy Report.?
2025?Startup Funding to Date - WeeTracker
AFTSDC2025 New Venture Pitch Competition Registration Open!??
Registration for the New Venture Pitch Competition taking place during the 13th Africa Fintech Summit at Halcyon House, Washington DC, on the 24th of April 2025, is now open. Early-stage startups can review the requirements and submit their interest before the deadline of 28 February HERE.
Music/Video of the Week!
Flashback from #AFTSNAIROBI24
Selected Pictures of AFTSNairobi24 that took place at the JW Marriott Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sept 4-5, 2024!
#AFTSDC2025 Partners & Sponsors
Coming Soon!
Reach Out to us at [email protected] to discuss sponsorship & partnership opportunities!?
Founder @BeSure Sainik Canteen | Serving Retired Force Personnel
4 周https://youtu.be/PxkWHRqY2lY?si=D55B7rOeUiAwFHFU