IT & Telecommunications
Kenya is the hotbed for FinTech innovation in Africa in 2022, attracting the most seed deals in H1
- Kenya was the most active FinTech seed country in the first half of 2022 with 11 deals, a 28% share of total FinTech seed deals in Africa. Nigeria was the second most active with eight deals and South Africa was third with five deals. PayTech was the most active FinTech sector for seed transactions on the continent, accounting for 30% of all seed deals in the region during the first half of 2022. Africa’s domestic e-payments market is expected to see revenues grow by 20% per year, reaching $40bn by 2025, compared with $200bn in Latin America. This outpaces global payments revenue which is projected to grow at 7% annually over the same period.
- Mara, a crypto exchange and wallet, was the largest African FinTech seed deal in the first half of 2022 raising $23m in their seed round which included high-profile crypto and web3 investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research (FTX) and Distributed Global as well as eight other investors. Mara plans to invest in a suite of products targeting Nigeria and Kenya, Africa’s two largest countries, before expanding to East Africa and Francophone countries, said CEO Chi Nnandi.
The data for this research was taken from the FinTech Global database. More in-depth data and analytics on investments and companies across all FinTech sectors and regions around the world are available to subscribers of FinTech Global. ©2022 FinTech Global
“There are a number of options; we can identify a local shareholder we can also list at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, NSE,” Airtel Africa Group Chief Executive Segun Ogunsanya said on March 18.
Adding, “We keep discussing with the regulator as to which one is the best route to ensure there is local participation in the business. We are very committed to doing this and commit to having it done by the deadline.”
Understandingly, the move is anchored on Kenya’s National Information and Technology Policy guidelines 2020 which partially spells out that foreign companies seeking to offer ICT-related services must have a 30 % local ownership threshold by March 2024.
By September 2022 Airtel Kenya had 17.1 out of the 50.2 million registered subscribers, according to the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA), or ownership of 26.3% market share, making it the second biggest telco in East Africa’s biggest economy.
Safaricom PLC, the only telco trading on the NSE, having listed on June 9 2008 leads with 50.2 million subscribers or 66 % of the market and operates M-PESA Africa’s leading mobile money service with more than 604,000 active agents operating across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
“These new markets fall in line with our strategy to prioritise the top markets”
Cellulant Ltd., a Kenyan payment-services provider, is starting a South African business after months of testing the market and is looking to wrap up fundraising for further expansion to the Middle East and UK.
Cellulant is about to close its latest fundraising round, she said. While the company hasn’t disclosed the likely amount, it has previously indicated it could raise as much as US$100-million.
“We provide a valuable proposition in South Africa. We work with premium merchants and we give them access to these markets,” Bamisebi said at the Africa Tech Summit in London. “These new markets fall in line with our strategy to prioritise the top markets.”
Payment technology companies have been at the forefront of an unprecedented boom in investment in African start-ups, which hit a record $5-billion in 2021. Businesses such as Flutterwave in Nigeria are tapping into rising demand for e-commerce on the continent, fuelled by better connectivity and a lack of traditional banks.
Backers
Cellulant’s backers include TPG Growth’s The Rise Fund, which led a $47.5-million round in 2018. The company operates in 18 countries and serves 35 others.
The company enables businesses to collect payments online and offline from mobile money, cards or banks. Its clients include airlines, banks, fintechs and fast-food chains including Burger King.
Investment into the start-up space has cooled globally, including in Africa after the record $5-billion of investment in 2021. However, data from deal aggregator Briter Bridges shows the total amount of money raised this year is likely to match the previous year.
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