Africa’s fintech startups are innovating out of need and global investors are backing them

Friday, September 21, 2018

By Yomi Kazeem

It is hard to miss news of the several funding rounds recently raised by fintech startups in Africa.

After pulling in almost a third of total funding raised by startups on the continent in 2017, the hot streak for African fintech businesses has continued this year. Among recent big-ticket deals in 2018, Cellulant, a digital payments solution company, raised $47.5 million in one of the largest Series C rounds for a solely Africa-focused venture-funded company.

A primary reason fintech startups remain prominent on investors’ radar is the sheer necessity of the work they do in plugging gaps in financial services in Africa. While in more developed economies, fintech startups focus on disrupting the already existing banking industry, in Africa, they are typically building technical infrastructure and systems from scratch.

Photo courtesy of Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion.

Source: Quartz Africa (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Finance
Tags
digital payments, fintech, global development, startups