Hi Fintech friends 👋,

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

• Nigerian Fintech secured SEC approval to raise $13.1 Million
• African based VC announced the Second close of its $50 Million fund
• UK based Fintech giant planned to launch in Morocco
• Ethiopia’s Central Bank banned four US based Remittance companies

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This Week in FintechSabrina Baxter

💸Fundraise and Exits

• Nigerian Fintech Payaza secured SEC approval to raise $13.1 Million under a commercial paper programme.

💰 Venture Funds

• Cape Town-headquartered VC HAVAÍC announced the second close of its $50 million African Innovation Fund 3.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• Ethiopia’s Central Bank banned four U.S. remittance companies; Shgey Money Transfer, Adulis Money Transfer, Ramada Pay (Kaah), and TAAJ Money Transfer over fraudulent moves.
• Revolut planned strategic launch in Morocco under new leadership.
• NALA launched in Bangladesh.

👔 Leadership Lineup

• LemFi CEO shared origin story and lessons for founders.

📰 News of the Week

• Lipa Later sought $5 million from a UK lender two weeks after entering administration.

The proposal outlined a 36-month term loan with a steep annual interest rate of 14% on funds drawn interest-only for the first 24 months, with quarterly repayments kicking in from the 27th month.

Lipa Later which raised $16.6 Million in total funding, was founded in 2018. In December 2023, it announced a surprise $1.9 Million acquisition of Sky Garden, a struggling e-commerce platform.By March 2024, Lipa Later had run out of road. Staff were unpaid, creditors were circling, and fundraising efforts had stalled.

👀 Eye Openers

• Zepz to adopt USDC.

📑 Read of the week

• African tech's snapshot problem. (Stephen Deng)

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• Collect Africa shut down to focus with Stablecoin based payment solutions.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

• Interview with Floris de Kort, CEO of Thunes, who shared what it really takes to build a global payments network across 130+ markets, from wallets to banks to mobile rails.

🦉 Tweet of the Week

🎯 Fintech Opportunities

• Stablecon is hiring for Director of operations.

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