Author: Akin Naphtal

Nigerian fintech startup Transfy has seen strong early uptake of its payments infrastructure, processing US$15 million in its first year, and is planning continental expansion. Launched in April 2021, the Lagos-based Transfy has developed a blockchain-powered financial services platform that makes it easy for individuals and businesses across Africa to seamlessly, securely, and freely send and receive money. Users are able to easily create an account on the Transfy platform, submit their KYCs, and start transacting. Vincent Omulo, the startup’s co-founder and chief operations officer, said moving money across Africa was too expensive. “Most of the money remittance companies concentrate…

Oolu Burkina Faso has signed an agreement with the Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) to support the scale-up of high-quality solar home systems for people living in rural areas of Burkina Faso. Launched in 2015, Oolu aims to provide affordable energy access to rural and peri-urban customers in West Africa. So far, it has sold thousands of solar home systems to customers across its six markets. The Burkina Faso subsidiary of Oolu was established in 2018, making it the first company in the country selling pay as you go (PAYG)-based renewable energy services. It will now scale its…

Nigerian fintech startup TeamApt is relaunching its Moniepoint product as a business bank in a bid to offer a wider range of services to its customers. Launched in 2015, TeamApt was formed to solve inefficiencies in Nigeria’s growing digital financial services market and has a variety of products. The startup counts 100 per cent of the country’s commercial banks amongst its customers and in 2019 secured a switching licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as well as a US$5.5 million Series A funding round. The startup raised a multi-million US dollar Series B funding round last year as…

In the back of a US$100m loan received from its largest shareholder the International Development Finance Corporation, Africell has confirmed an investment over US$150-million to build a 5G-ready network with the capacity to initially accommodate over six million customers. In addition to the introduction of new mobile products and services, the company said it is also creating a technology platform to boost vertical markets including education, entertainment and finance. The launch of the network comes 14 months after the operator was awarded a licence in Angola. The delay is understood to have been caused by misunderstandings related to a network…

EcoCash Zimbabwe has announced it would venture into the lucrative domestic remittance market through its EcoCash FCA wallet. EcoCash FCA is added to a list of offerings that have emerged to tap into this market, including CBZ, which launched a dedicated money transfer branch, and start-ups Senditoo, and Shumba Money which offer limited-run transaction-free promotions for cash sent to Zimbabwe. EcoCash FCA spokesperson Fungai Mandiveyi confirmed that the mobile money operator told its customers, “We want to assure our valued customers that cash will be available at all our designated outlets.” Independent economist, Paul Musodza said the remittance market is…

Egyptian startup Pylon, an infrastructure management platform aimed at transforming electricity and water companies in emerging markets, has raised a US$19 million seed funding round to accelerate its expansion, including into new markets. Founded in 2017, Pylon is a smart infrastructure management platform providing a subscription-based “Smart Metering as a Service” (SMaaS) for electricity and water companies in emerging markets. The startup provides a tailored end-to-end software solution that is adaptive to old and new metering technologies and helps reduce operational inefficiencies, improve revenue collection, and achieve a more efficient environmental footprint, at zero upfront cost. Pylon democratises smart grid…

TN Group has joined forces with several global organisations, including the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) Meta, ICMEC (the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children) and Child Helpline International, to launch the Help Children be Children campaign and the Child Safety Online Africa Portal. According to information supplied to the media, the initiative has the backing of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the objective is to increase public awareness of the impact of Child Sexual Abuse Material and help prevent its spread in the target countries on the African continent. The company and organisations stated…

Nigerian on-demand delivery startup ShapShap has secured a seed extension investment from V8 Capital Partners as it bids to expand its capabilities and move into more markets. Founded in 2019, ShapShap is an on-demand motorbike delivery service that utilises data and mobile technology to formalise the fragmented and highly inefficient same-day delivery service. So far, the startup has completed over 40,000 deliveries in Lagos and Abuja. Disrupt Africa reported late last year ShapShap had raised seed funding from the Germany-based GreenTec Capital Partners, and it has now announced an extension to that round, secured from V8 Capital Partners through its…

According to a report from Bloomberg, tech giant Apple is planning to build its own in-house technology and financial services infrastructure in a bid to lessen its reliance on third parties. The report states Apple’s plans include bringing in-house services such as payment processing, risk assessments for lending, fraud analysis, credit checks and additional customer service functions such as handling of disputes. The US firm has been busy in the fintech space of late, having acquired Credit Kudos, a UK open banking start-up, at a reported value of $150 million last month. In February, Apple announced plans to allow US…

Unfazed by the demise of its doomed digital currency Diem, Facebook is concocting another virtual token for the metaverse – Zuck Bucks. Intended for spending only on Meta’s network of sites, the digital token is aimed at keeping users from straying to rival networks like TikTok. Quoting people familiar with the project,the FT reports that Zuck Bucks would be controlled by Meta directly — much like the in-game currencies used on games such as Fortnite and Roblox. A spokesperson for Meta says the firm is “focused on building for the metaverse and that includes what payments and financial services might…