Global leader in digital payments, Visa, is hosting the first demo day of its Africa Fintech Accelerator program in Nairobi, with the event aiming to spotlight innovations from emerging fintech startups representing 18 countries across Africa.
Launched in June 2023, the program is designed to support Africa’s burgeoning startup community by providing expertise, connections, technology, and investment funding.
The Africa Fintech Accelerator program starting on Tuesday, 13th February, will see startups from the program’s inaugural cohort pitching their innovations to key stakeholders, including ecosystem players, funding partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists. These startups were selected from over 1,000 applicants spanning diverse subsectors such as merchant payment solutions, lending infrastructure, Banking-as-a-Service, and B2B marketplaces.
Among the fintechs participating in the demo day are Duqha and Power from Kenya, Workpay from Kenya, OkHi from Nigeria, and Eversend from Uganda.
Visa has also announced the opening of applications for the program’s second cohort. Seed to Series A startups operating in Africa and falling under specific categories are encouraged to apply on the Visa website until 29th February.
The categories for the second cohort include:
- Unlocking money movement
- Embedded finance
- Empowering merchants and SMEs
- Payment infrastructure enablers
- The future of finance
- Sustainable and inclusive finance
