Hi Fintech friends 👋,

Here are the highlights of what happened in African Fintech this week;

• Kenyan based Fintech was acquired by Bolttech.
• A funding was announced to back female-led and women-focused startups.
• Kenyan Bank ousted  2,000 staff in an ethics sweep. 
• Two Nigerian Unicorns launched different products.

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This Week in FintechSabrina Baxter

💸Fundraise and Exits

• Tanzania based Blackswan raised $50K from Mest Africa.
• Bolttech acquired Kenya’s insurtech Fintech mTek.

💰 Venture Funds

• Five35 Ventures raised funding to back female-led and women-focused startups.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• Send by Flutterwave launched Naira travel cards for diaspora holiday spending.
• Moniepoint launched Moniebook to provide business owners a unified inventory and POS solution.

👔 Leadership Lineup

• Equity Bank ousted 2,000 staff in an ethics sweep as remaining workers received a sharp pay rise.

📰 News of the Week

• Vodacom Group acquired the government’s stake in Safaricom (M-Pesa’s owner) for $2.1 Billion.

Vodacom Group entered into an agreement with the Government of Kenya to acquire a 15% stake in Safaricom, which own M-pesa, Afrca’s biggest mobile money provider,, as well as a further 5% from Vodafone.

Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group, said: “Acquiring a controlling stake in Safaricom strengthens our position as a market leader, while at the same time unlocks new opportunities to drive digital and financial inclusion at scale in Kenya and Ethiopia.

👀 Eye Openers

• M-Pesa is complaining that a competitor in Ethiopia blocked its app access, a behavior that M-Pesa’s owner, Safaricom, has been accused of in some markets, like Tanzania. Is that karma?

📑 Read of the week

• Africa's Stablecoin U-Turn ( Mambo Brief)

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• The Central Bank Of Nigeria revised Nigeria’s cash withdrawal and deposit limits.

🪙 Stablecoin Watch

News;

• Kotani Pay partnered with FinFan to power stablecoin cross border payments.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

• Interview with Tayo Oviosu, Founder and CEO of Paga, on how he built a $20 Billion Nigerian Fintech in total Chaos.

🦉 Tweet of the Week

Made in Tanzania 🇹🇿 with 💚

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