The Front Page of Fintech

The largest fintech community in the world. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest in news opinions, and all things financial technology.

Image Description

The Front Page of Fintech

The largest fintech community in the world. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest in news opinions, and all things financial technology.

Image Description

Startup investment bounced back (TWIF - Africa 01/12)

Startup investment bounced back (TWIF - Africa 01/12)

Hi Fintech friends đź‘‹,

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

  • A Morocco based Fintech raised $2.2 Million to digitize the Neighbourhood Retail Economy.
  • African startups set a new funding milestone in 2025.
  • Kenyan Member of Parliaments opened inquiry into $1.Billion Mpesa’s owner stake sale.
  • African founder revealed a plan to acquire a bank.

Join an online community of TWIF Premium members and enjoy exclusive fintech conversations, private events, roundtable discussions, networking, job matching, and premium industry insight - all in one place.

Community
📱To join our Slack with 10,000+ other fintech enthusiasts, sign up below. This Week in Fintech has two online communities: * TWIF Premium for fintech founders, investors, and operators. * Curated membership * (Note: you can sign up for the Premium Slack below; this is separate from our members-only Premium Newsletter, which

đź’¸Fundraise and Exits

  • Woliz raised $2.2 Million to digitise and expand financial services to Morocco’s Neighbourhood Retail Economy.

đź’° Venture Funds

  • African startups raised $3.2 Billion in 2025.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

  • NALA enabled Kenyans to send money from Kenya to the UK and Europe.
  • Sterling Bank partnered with Thunes to simplify diaspora payments into Nigeria.

đź‘” Leadership Lineup

  • The path to Silicon Valley just got steeper for African founders.

đź“° News of the Week

  • Kenyan Member of Parliaments opened inquiry into $1.Billion Mpesa’s owner stake sale amid valuation and control fears.

The Kenyan government planned to sell 15% of Safaricom to South Africa’s Vodacom for about $1.5 Billion, and Vodacom will also buy another 5% from Vodafone, which would raise Vodacom’s total ownership to 55% and give it control of Safaricom, while the government’s stake would fall to 20% and public investors would hold the remaining 25%, and this shift of control from the state to a foreign company is why the deal is politically sensitive and under scrutiny.

đź‘€ Eye Openers

  • Meet the 10 startup founders building Africa’s emerging payment tech solutions.

đź“‘ Read of the week

  • Top 10 Patterns for African Fintech in 2026. (Mambo Brief)

đź“– Other News, Reads, and Media

  • Rent, vacation and new business dominated Nigerians' savings target in 2025.

🪙 Stablecoin Watch

  • Nigeria planned to trace crypto money without cracking the blockchain.
  • South Africa’s Spendl Money launched a crypto-to-fiat debit card.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

  • Interview with Zach Bijessie (Former CEO, Pay Hippo) where he shared the brutal lessons learned from scaling a leading fintech lender to 100+ people and raising $15 Million, only to discover a core, fatal flaw in their product-market fit.

🦉 Tweet of the Week

  • African Fintechs are becoming banks 

Made in Tanzania 🇹🇿 with 💚

👍🏽👎🏽  Did you enjoy this edition of This Week In Fintech Africa? Please share your feedback with me on Twitter or LinkedIn .