Nigeria's Raenest Raises $11M, Ghana's Affinity Secures $8M, AFTS Launches Africa Fintech Pulse Podcast, and More
Africa Fintech Summit
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AFTS launches Africa Fintech Pulse Podcast?
Africa Fintech Summit?has been at the forefront of bringing Africa's authentic Fintech story to the global stage since its inception in 2017, running biannual summits, digital content and the long-running?Africa Fintech Rising podcast?launched in 2018. African Fintech is no longer just rising, it is erupting?and gone global. It is a magnet of Global investment focus, and African Fintechs are rapidly solving pain points beyond the shores of the continent.
Hence, we have now launched a new podcast -?Africa Fintech Pulse -?to be?hosted by AFTS Co-Founder Zekarias Amsalu,?to better reflect the dynamically progressing fintech landscape across the continent. Enjoy the first episode hosted by?Manahat Thomas, AFTS' Event Manager, who interviewed AFTS' Zekarias, reviewing the 2024 African Space and what is his prediction for African Fintech space in 2025.?
Africa?- Another Boost for Early-Stage Startups
Early-stage, pan-African VC firm P1 Ventures has completed the final close of its first US$50 million institutional fund.?
Nigeria - What African Fintechs bring to the Developed World?
Africa's Unicorn?Moniepoint's Co-Founder and CEO, Tosin Eniolorunda,?argues that African fintech companies can deliver their own innovations and market know-how, not just on the continent but globally. Developed economies have much to learn from African innovation. Read the full report at?Retail Banker International?HERE.
Global - Stablecoins: The Future of Digital Finance?
Stablecoins have had a massive 2024, and one sign is the global Stablecoin giant Tether Holdings Limited announcing $13 billion in net profits for 2024, setting records in U.S. Treasury holdings and USD? circulation.?On its own, Tether?would be the 13th largest investor in U.S. Treasuries globally, just between India ($147.8 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($121.6 billion). This would account for roughly half of all stablecoin market capitalization today.
Visualization of the Week
GSMA?has released its report, Cross-Border Mobile Money Remittance?Cost Survey - Key Trends and Insights, providing insights into regional cross-border money transfer trends & comparative costs. As the snapshot of the report that is our visualization for the week shows, Africa leads the globe with 50% of live MoMo services and 73% of Mobile Money transaction volume for 2023!??
Featured Read
A Deep Dive Into Funding Movements Shaping Africa’s Startup Scene?
AFTS' African Investment tracking data partner Wee Tracker has released their Venture Capital Africa 2024 Report?that showed during 2019-2024,?the funding patterns in Africa, India, and the US show a strikingly similar trajectory: -?
?? 2019-2021: Strong upswing, peaking in 2021
?? 2022-2023: Declines from the 2021 high but still above pre-pandemic levels
?? 2024: A return to moderate growth
Enjoy?reading!?
M&A Activities??
El Salvador- From Stablecoin into Wallet Infra & International Football (Soccer) Investment
Tether, the largest Stablecoin company globally, made two strategic investments in two unrelated ventures during the week. On 11 February, Tether?announced a?strategic investment in?Zengo Wallet?to advance global stablecoin adoption. This followed another announcement on 15 February that it?acquired?a strategic minority stake in?Juventus football club.?
Banking & Telcom Activity
Nigeria: Africa Energy Bank to Launch in Q1 – Targeting a $120 Billion Asset Base
The Africa Energy Bank, which will fund oil and gas projects and support the continent's energy transition goals, will launch in the first quarter of 2025 and target an asset base of $120 billion, Reuters reported.?
Nigeria: $5B Local Currency Guarantee Facility – Boosting energy access across Africa.
The African Guarantee Fund (AGF) announced the launch of its Mission 300 Local Currency Guarantee Facility, a groundbreaking initiative to mobilize $5 billion to support energy access projects across Africa. This facility targets financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) sector.
Kenya: Oversubscribed Infrastructure Bond; Signaling investor confidence?
The government through the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has raised KSh 130.8 billion (circla $1.01B USD)?from two reopened infrastructure bonds in the February sale.?In the auction, which closed on 12 Feb, the CBK received bids worth KSh 193.9 billion against the targeted KSh 70 billion – a 277% subscription rate, reported The Kenyan Wall Street.?
Startup Activity
Ghana?- Ghanaian fintech Affinity bags $8M to scale digital banking in a mobile money-driven market.?
Affinity has onboarded over 50,000 customers since its launch last October, and notably,?65% of its users had never accessed formal banking products before, and over 60% are women working in the informal sector, Techcrunch reports.?
Nigeria - Global Fintech Investing giant?QED led a?$11M investment in Nigerian fintech Raenest, a Lagos-based Fintech that offers freelancers virtual USD, GBP, and EUR accounts to receive payments, manage multi-currency wallets, and convert currencies?through its retail product, Geegpay.?
Africa -?Madica Invests in Four African Startups:?Madica, which stands for Made In Africa, an investment program launched by global venture capital firm Flourish Ventures, has?invested $800,000 in four startups and expanded its footprint into North Africa. The startups funded are Medikea in Tanzania, Motherbeing in Egypt,?Pixii Motors in Tunisia and ToumAI in Morocco.?
Egypt - Egyptian social e-commerce platform?Taager?has successfully?raised $6.75 million?in a pre-Series B funding round to accelerate its growth in MENA.
South Africa - Eight of the largest non-bank payment players have formed the?Association for South African Payment Providers (ASAPP).?The founding members are Altron, Hello Group, iKhokha, Lesaka, Network International/Payfast by Network, Peach Payments, Shop2Shop and Yoco.
Resources for Founders & Startups
Washington DC?-?Africa Fintech Summit's 8th New Venture Pitch Competition for early-stage startups is open until 28 February 2025. Ten early-stage startups will be selected to pitch in front of pre-selected investors and a panel of judges on 24th April 2025. Register HERE.
AFTS Community Activity
Canada - Expedier joins AFTSDC25 as a Sponsor
Toronto-based fintech startup and super app?Expedier, which provides virtual/physical cards to its global users while boosting users' credit scores for each transaction, as well as money transfer services, has joined?AFTSDC25, taking place in Washington DC on 24 April, as a?Sponsor & Speaker. Welcome on board Expedier!
Ghana - Africa Fintech Summit has welcomed Ghana Fintech & Payment Association?and?Ghana Fintech Awards as Strategic Partners for 2025!
As part of the partnership, AFTS will collaborate in supporting Ghana's fintech ecosystem and join the Ghana Fintech Award reception in Accra on 01 March 2025!?Y?ma wo akwaaba w? hy?n no mu na y?da wo ase!?More announcements on future collaborations to come!
Kenya:?Visa East Africa Provides Insights into Kenyan Digital Payment Space
AFTSNAIROBI24 Sponsor & Speaker Visa East Africa has released their latest report titled, "Value of Acceptance: Understanding the Digital Payment Landscape in Kenya."?This report (conducted by 4SiGHT Research & Analytics), explores the growth opportunities for digital payments, especially for SMEs?in Kenya who are the backbone of the economy.?
Nigeria - Spotlight on Digital Identity Fraud
African?Digital Identity solution provider & AFTSNairobi24 longtime partner Smile?ID?has released their?2025 Digital?Identity Fraud in?Africa Report. The report examines how vulnerabilities are exploited and provides clear, actionable strategies to help leaders build trust in the age of generative AI & deepfake.?
Kenya - Here Comes Vesti to Kenya
AFTSNairobi24 sponsor & global immigration fintech solution provider Vesti has opened an Office in Nairobi, Kenya this week!?
2025?Startup Funding to Date - WeeTracker
Amplify your brand, services and products at the 13th AFTSDC2025, taking place in Washington DC on 24 April 2025
Reach out to us at [email protected] to discuss sponsorship & partnership opportunities!?
Flashback from #AFTS Editions in Washington, DC!?
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1 周Thanks for sharing