Author: Akin Naphtal

Rapid Finance, a market leader in helping small businesses find sustainable and customized financing solutions through a fast and simple application process, announced today its acquisition of digital lending platform provider, Thrive, at American Banker’s Small Business Banking conference. As part of Rapid Finance’s recent corporate rebrand and restructuring, the Thrive acquisition represents a significant addition to the company’s new Rapid Finance Technology business unit. Thrive’s true, end-to-end digital lending platform enables banks, non-bank lenders and credit unions to realize meaningful operational efficiencies through a streamlined origination process and more efficient underwriting for both consumer and SMB lending. “Since its…

Global technical body EMVCo has today announced the appointment of Arman Aygen to the role of Director of Technology. Arman brings proven expertise from across the payments industry, having held senior technology leadership positions in the U.S., Europe and Asia. This includes roles at FIME and UL, where he was responsible for leading payments innovation and strategic relationship management with global payment brands. As EMVCo Director of Technology, Arman will play a key role in EMVCo’s efforts to advance technical initiatives that address industry needs and support the evolution of payments. He is responsible for oversight of technical developments across…

Mastercard has joined forces with fintech Inswitch to launch embedded payments and issuing programmes across industries in Latin America. Embedded banking and payments player Inswitch will start issuing cards as a Mastercard principal member in Mexico, with plans to expand to other Latin American markets. Ronald Alvarenga, CEO, Inswitch, says: “Now our clients can issue branded cards to support different use cases: digital wallets, Buy now pay later, supplier payments, working capital for corporate expenses or cash management necessities; among others.” In addition to the issuing programme, Inswitch and Mastercard will work together to offer an agnostic platform supporting different…

Egyptian startup Mazaya, a B2B e-commerce marketplace that focuses on electronics, has raised a US$5 million pre-seed funding round to scale its operations in Egypt and expand into new markets and verticals. Founded in December 2021, Mazaya empowers retailers and merchants of electronic goods and home appliances by enabling them to efficiently procure inventory for their stores through its app. It also gives them access to value-added services. Since its launch, the startup has worked with over 6,000 retailers, fulfilled 30,000 orders, and achieved a gross merchandise value of US$15 million. It currently has over 1,000 SKUs on its platform.…

Ghanaian agri-tech startup Farmerline has raised a further US$1.5 million in pre-Series A funding to close out its round at US$14.4 million. Launched in 2013 by Alloysius Attah and Emmanuel Owusu Addai, Farmerline partners with agribusinesses and farm associations to support African farmers with high-quality fertiliser and seeds, free education on climate-smart farming practices, and access to international markets. Its marketplace combines digital tools with logistics, field agents, farm resources and strategic partnerships, while the company’s in-house technology platform Mergdata is licensed by global food traders and manufacturers who use its customisable tools to improve the lives of farmers around…

Ugandan fintech startup Numida, which uses proprietary credit models and tech-enabled underwriting processes to provide unsecured working capital loans to African micro and small businesses (MSBs), has raised a US$12.3 million pre-Series A round of equity and debt funding to help it expand its team and move into new markets. Launched by Mina Shahid, Catherine Denis and Ben Best in 2017, Numida began life enabling traditional MFIs to provide unsecured credit to semi-formal businesses, but soon pivoted to begin lending to micro and small businesses directly. The startup’s proprietary credit models and tech-enabled underwriting processes allow it to provide unsecured…

Newtek Business Services Corp., an internally managed business development company, announced it has selected the Apiture Digital Banking Platform to support the digital capabilities of Newtek Bank, pending regulatory approvals and the close of the acquisition of the National Bank of New York City. Newtek plans to leverage Apiture’s Business Banking and Account Opening solutions in combination with Newtek’s existing business and finance solutions and the Newtek Advantage™ to deliver a comprehensive suite of financial and business solutions and services to independent business owners. Newtek previously announced an agreement to acquire NBNYC, a nationally chartered bank, and to reposition Newtek…

Speedchain Inc., a FinTech focused on revolutionising business-to-business commerce via its connected data platform, announced a multifaceted partnership with Mastercard. “Speedchain is dedicated to bringing transaction experiences to our members that are more secure, flexible and data driven. This partnership helps enhance our ability to deliver on that promise at scale. This collaboration is also about people, and we are very excited to work with an expert team at Mastercard that share our passion for delivering excellent and innovative products,” said Speedchain’s CEO, Daniel Cage. Leveraging Mastercard’s network and innovative payments technology, Speedchain member organisations of all sizes can experience…

Paym, the mobile payment service launched by fifteen of the UK’s biggest banks and building societies, is shutting down after an eight year battle to keep abreast of changing consumer trends and technology. Launched in April 2014, Paym enable users to transfer payments through their banking app to any other account via the recipient’s email address. It currently has around 5.8m registered users, of whom around 500,000 use it regularly. However, new registrations have fallen in recent years by 10% in 2021 and 14% in 2022. Monthly transactions have also dropped from 867,000 in 2020 to 668,000 in 2022. The…

Towards enhancing Zambia’s internet connectivity, the Zambia government and SpaceX’s satellite internet constellation Starlink have concluded plans to launch Starlink operations in the country. Following a meeting with Starlink representatives in New York last week, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said the company will soon offer its services in the Southern African country “in line with the Zambian government’s quest to embrace internet revolution.” Hichilema said government has prioritised internet connectivity and the need to address connectivity issues because this is the only way Zambia can secure a fully functional 21st century e-government system. Hichilema added, “We expect that in under…