- The Africa Fintech Accelerator program has increased the number of women-led startups
- The Accelerator program, launched in June 2023, is aimed at uplifting the digital economy in Africa
- The list, is majorly dominated by West and Central African states that command 11 enterprises.
Only one Kenyan fintech startup has made it through into the second cohort of Visa’s Africa Fintech Accelerator program.
Out of the possible 20 only CheckUps Medical Hub, an Embedded health Kenyan startup, made it to the shortlist. Tanzania got two representatives and Ethiopia also got one.
The list is majorly dominated by West and Central African states that command 11 enterprises. While Southern Africa only has three two from South Africa and one from Zambia.
According to the digital payments firm, Cohort 2 startups operate across 28 African countries, a 55 per cent increase from Cohort 1 where the representatives operated across 18 countries. 65 percent of them feature female leadership, rising from 43 percent in the inaugural edition.
The selected startups offer a range of solutions, such as neo-banking, merchant payments, credit scoring, risk and identity management, embedded finance, social commerce, escrow services, and more.
They aim to address the challenges and opportunities in the African fintech landscape, such as financial inclusion, access to credit, cross-border payments, and digital transformation.
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Visa Vice President, and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Aida Diarra, said that the second cohort also considered women are in leadership roles across the majority of these cutting-edge startups.
“At Visa, we believe in uplifting innovation while driving access and inclusion across the financial ecosystem. Today, we are proud to say that our second cohort of Accelerator participants represents more than 50 per cent of countries across Africa, up from a third during our first cohort,” said Diarra.
The Accelerator program, launched in June 2023, is aimed at uplifting the digital economy in Africa, including a pledge to invest $1 billion (Sh132billion) in the continent by 2027 to help revolutionize the payments ecosystem.
The 12-week virtual Accelerator program will conclude with an in-person Demo Day, where startups will have the opportunity to pitch their innovations to key ecosystem players, funding partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists, enabling them to take small steps towards unlocking their full potential.
Africa Fintech Accelerator program nominees
The program builds on the success of the first cohort, who graduated in February 2024 with an investor week in Nairobi that saw the participation of more than 250 attendees including banking and fintech partners, investors and venture capital firms.
The first cohort startups have since reported positive outcomes from the program, such as increased user growth, product enhancements, funding opportunities, and strategic partnerships with Visa and other industry players.
The Sub-Saharan Africa startups shortlisted for the second cohort of the Visa Fintech Accelerator program for Africa are:
- Chapa– Ethiopia – Merchant Solutions
- CheckUps Medical Hub– Kenya – Embedded Finance (Health)
- AzamPay– Tanzania – B2B Marketplace
- Beem– Tanzania – Social Commerce
- Bizao– Ivory Coast – Merchant Payments Solution
- Hub2– Ivory Coast – Enabler Infrastructure
- Iwomi Technologies– Cameroon – Money Movement
- Proboutik– Cameroon – Merchant Payments Solution
- Vaultpay– Democratic Republic of Congo – Merchant Payments Solution
- Aku– Nigeria – Neo-banking
- Cleva– Nigeria – Money Movement
- Curacel– Nigeria – Insurance Management
- E-doc Online– Nigeria – Open Banking
- Raenest– Nigeria – Money Movement
- Bridgecard– Nigeria – Enabler Infrastructure
- Truzo– South Africa – Escrow Services
As part of Visa’s work to unlock financial inclusion and innovation across the continent, the biannual program offers 12 weeks of 1:1 mentorship and personalized training, providing seed to series African startups with exclusive opportunities to access funding, development, and resources.
Brian Dempsey, Founder and CEO of Power, a Kenyan startup that issues partner employees access to short and long-term loans, investment opportunities and insurance products who participated in the first cohort, commented:
“The Visa Accelerator Program has been really valuable for Power as a business. Each week, I have been able to include multiple team members on topics that are really important for our growing business such as HR, Finance, Governance, Go to Market Strategies and so forth. The quality of the mentors and speakers has been top notch and the Accelerator team always available when needed!”
African Landscape
Kenyan startups attracted $800 million (Sh127.2billion) in venture capital in 2023 surpassing, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa to top the continent.
Read Also: Capital crunch: African startups reel from 27 per cent drop in Q1 2024 funding
A new report by Africa: The Big Deal, a platform for startup funding shows capital injection in Kenya accounted for 28 percent of all funds raised in the continent.
Egypt which topped in 2022 came second with $640m(Sh101.8billion), followed by South Africa with $600 million (Sh95.4 billion) and Nigeria $410 (Sh65.2billion).
In East Africa, Kenya’s share grew from 86 percent in 2022 to 91 percent in 2023, stamping its dominance in East Africa. The report shows that startups that raised $100,000 (Sh16million) and above in the country stood at 93.
