Hi Fintech friends 👋,

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

• Africa’s ecommerce platform raised funding to scale its fintech efforts.
• A new $10 Million fund was launched for MEA startups.
• Kenya’s second biggest bank fired 1,200 staff after an internal $15.4 million fraud probe.
• One of world’s biggest crypto platform opened physical office in Nigeria.

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This Week in FintechSabrina Baxter

💸Fundraise and Exits

• Jumia raised money from Axian to boost its digital retail and fintech efforts.

💰 Venture Funds

• COREangels launched a $10 Million fund to invest in MEA startups.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

• Fincra got South African payments licence to deepen African reach.

👔 Leadership Lineup

• Kenya’s Equity Group fired 1,200 staff after an internal $15.4 million fraud probe.

📰 News of the Week

• Sycamore, a Nigerian digital lender was raising $628K to complete a $1.5 million debt funding round, just one week after securing $943K debt from Cascador, a Nigerian entrepreneurship accelerator.

It disbursed over $5.5 million in loans in 2024 and has generated over $3.5 million in revenue, with over $1.5 million earned in 2024 alone, a 115.19% year-on-year growth. 

Sycamore serves 300,000 users through its peer-to-peer lending platform and plans to issue over 10,000 loans with the combined $1.5 million over the next year and hopes to serve an additional 5,000 to 10,000 businesses.

👀 Eye Openers

• Despite unclear regulations, Nigeria is still attracting crypto firms? Blockchain.co opened a Nigeria office, becoming the first foreign crypto firm to establish a physical presence. With the rise of stablecoins, Nigeria’s large market size, and strong demand-driven use cases, should we expect other companies to follow this path?

📑 Read of the week

• The man who led Yoco from start-up to a R12-billion($671 Million) payments giant. (My Broadband)

📖 Other News, Reads, and Media

• Access Bank’s Hydrogen Overtook GTCO’s HabariPay as Most Profitable Bank-Owned Fintech in Q1 2025.

🎥 VIDEO INTERVIEWS/DISCUSSIONS

• The real reason people are using Stablecoins.

🦉 Tweet of the Week

🎯 Fintech Opportunities

• East African Fintechs can apply for €100K Grant funding from Developpp.

Made in Tanzania 🇹🇿 with 💚

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