The project was advertised online and in print, allowing all eligible companies to register via the websites created by Statista and the Financial Times. Palm Pay was founded in 2019 in Lagos, Nigeria. But the rigorous screening process (see methodology, below), which also requires senior executives to sign off on the figures submitted by their companies, means the ranking can offer a meaningful insight into the health of these private businesses. Your e-mail address will not be published. Flutterwave is on a mission to build payment infrastructure to connect Africa to the global economy. It allows its partners, which includes enterprises, mobile money operators, money transfer operators, banks, non-bank financial institutions, and online and offline merchants, to connect to each other and to connect to more than 400 million mobile money wallets in over 35 African countries. While fintechs have made significant inroads in Africanotably in wallets, payments, and distributionthere is still plenty of room for expansion. South Africa: Fintech, Financial Services & Insurance: 74.727: 20.445: 49.7: 32.3: NA: NA: 2006: 78: . In September 2021, Yellow Card announced a $15 million funding raise led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime and Castle Island Ventures. Japan, San Francisco, Europe), Algorithmic rank assigned to the top 100,000 most active Hubs, Total number of founders of organizations in the hub, Average date the Organization was founded, Percentage of organizations in this hub that have been acquired, Percentage of organizations that have gone public with an IPO, Percentage of organizations in this hub that are non-profits, Total number of for-profit companies in this hub, Total number of non-profit companies in this hub, Top 5 investor types represented in this hub, Last Funding Round type of organizations in the hub (e.g. More traditional companies, among them miners and construction firms, also make the list, proving that not all fast growth is digital. The company provides a platform that enables cross-border transactions via one API, and processes payments in 150 currencies, supporting multiple payment methods including local and international cards, mobile wallets and bank transfers. Six out of seven of the continent's unicorns operate in the financial services industry. Which companies in this hub have the most subsidiaries? These African fintech companies, OPay, PalmPay, Flutterwave and Yoco are listed on the third annual Fintech 250: Top Fintech Companies of 2020. Some start out as a distributor of unique nonfinancial consumer products and evolve into a fintech, while others start with a specific financial business-to-consumer (B2C) or B2B product and evolve into a digital bank. Top Fintech Companies in Africa | FiFi Finance 5 of the Best African Fintech Startups to Watch in 2021 Over the past decade, Africa has transitioned from being an underdeveloped region to a continent to watch in socioeconomic matters. An effective governance structure can help to build a strong, positive organizational culture that provides stability, clarity, and directioneven in difficult times. Paga. The company generated revenues of $88 million in 2020 with a staff base of 1,102 employees. Readers can also use the arrows at the top of columns in the table below to sort companies by country, by sector or by revenue. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Regulators, for instance, could consider taking steps to formalize data systems, promote predictable regulation, and keep pace with changes in the fintech landscape, while investors may look to expand local opportunities, educate African investors on potential opportunities on the continent, and focus on the tangible value added by start-ups rather than just on their sale valuation. Everyone has the right to completely log off: what bosses think about the right to disconnect, Wellcome Leaps Regina Dugan: Odds are irrelevant, if what youre trying to do is important, Sci-fi writer Ted Chiang: The machines we have now are not conscious. In addition to uneven infrastructure across markets, fintechs in Africa also have to contend with a fragmented financial regulatory framework. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was calculated as follows: ((revenue 2021/revenue 2018) ^ (1/3)) 1 = CAGR. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. As in the inaugural year, the list was compiled with Statista, a research company. Based out of Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya. Which African fintech startups are attracting funding? - Quartz And because fintechs can evolve rapidly, it is vital that they have a well-developed compliance foundation to actively manage regulatory change and avoid falling foul of regulatorsa challenge many are starting to face. A possible silver lining is that the pandemic has accelerated business trends already under way. Will ChatGPT be Homer Simpsons salvation? Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Best Fintech Companies in Africa - AfricaOTR Top Fintech Companies in Africa | FiFi Finance Group for Industry & International Trade SAE, M.M. Fintech in Nigeria | McKinsey - McKinsey & Company Jumo has raised US$200 million in funding so far, its latest round being a US$120 million fundraise announced in November 2021. Additionally, consumer access is at an all-time high. The inaugural annual ranking provides a snapshot of the corporate landscape altered by technology, fintech and support-service businesses. Figures from San Francisco-based tech and digital investment platform Partech, Beck notes, show that African tech start-ups raised $5.2bn in 2021, three times more than the previous year. Keep reading to see the fintech startups on our list and why they were selected. Jumanne Rajabu Mtambalike, A sweet big lie told to African startups, Afruturist, March 26, 2022. Yoco is an African technology company that builds tools and services to help small businesses get paid, run their businesses better, and grow. 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Despite all the activity seen on the continent, Africa has only produced a handful of unicornsstart-ups with a $1 billion valuationand the profitability of many ventures is precarious. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Which investors participated in the most funding rounds within this hub? in Silicon Valley were getting FOMO [fear of missing out] about Africa, says Steve Beck, co-founder of Novastar Ventures, a Nairobi-based venture capital firm. Africa fintech start-up funding rose 49% in 2020; 2021 should be even higher, due to the recent massive Flutterwave deal. Meet the Fintechs in Financial Times fastest-growing companies in Africa in 2022, Head and Editor at Business Insider Africa. 10 up-and-coming South Africa fintechs shaping financial services now One industry leader we spoke with said that rather than a fintech disruption, the continent is experiencing a fintech eruption, and local and international investors are taking notice. MFS Africa has raised US$225 million in funding, including debt. Sygnia is a FinTech company that provides asset management, stockbroking, and administration services. Featured image credit: Edited from Unsplash, Get the hottest Fintech Africa News once a month in your Inbox. 5 companies revolutionising the FinTech space in South Africa With Yellow Card, Africans can send remittances, make payments, and preserve the value of their assets from the constant depreciation of their currencies in many African countries. And the fintech startup's. Not all the fastest-expanding companies are high-tech, however. Get the hottest Fintech Africa News once a month in your inbox. The submitted revenue figures had to be certified by the chief financial officer, chief executive or an executive committee member of the company. We use Abuja-based Afex Commodities Exchange . The company provides APIs for money transfers, accepting credit cards and for subscription management. Thanks for signing up for our daily insight on the African economy. Parent company Opera reported that OPays monthly transactions grew 4.5x to over US$2 billion in December 2020. The following are the top fintech firms working to bridge the financial services gap in Africas various demographics. Our analysis shows that fintech players are delivering significant value to their customers. Globally, we have seen fintechs evolving to achieve scale through three major routes. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Max Fltotto is a senior partner in McKinseys Munich office; Eitan Gold is a consultant in the London office, where Tunde Olanrewaju is a senior partner; Uzayr Jeenah is a partner in the Johannesburg office; and Mayowa Kuyoro is a partner in the Lagos office. Leading players have had to take steps to overcome such constraints by, for example, leveraging preexisting physical networks or by employing aggressive pricing strategies to offer cheaper fees and charges than competitors. In 2021 alone, fintech received 50% of the over $2 billion raised by African tech startups, according to data from tech industry researchers Disrupt Africa. 2022 is expected to be a generally. Taken together with an influx of funding and increasingly supportive regulatory frameworks, these factors could signify that African fintech markets are at the beginning of a period of exponential growth if, as expected, they follow the trajectory of more mature markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. Paga is a Nigerian fintech firm that allows users to send and receive money, make payments, and access loans. The business headquarters is located in San Francisco, CA. Although the search was very extensive, the ranking does not claim to be complete, as some companies did not want to make their figures public or did not participate for other reasons. Furthermore, entrepreneurs and investors can be exposed to fluctuating exchange rates and strict foreign-exchange control in some countries, which make it harder to maintain consistency. Opay was founded in 2018 in Lagos, Nigeria. Additionally, most locally financed deals are for early-stage start-ups. If the sector overall can reach similar levels of penetration to those seen in Kenya, a country with one of the highest levels of fintech penetration in the world, we estimate that African fintech revenues could reach eight times their current value by 2025 (Exhibit 1). This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Africas fintech industry is coming of age. Interswitch This is an African focused integrated digital payments and commerce company that facilitates the electronic circulation of money as well as exchange of value between individuals and organizations on a timely and consistent basis. While the opportunity across the African continent for fintech growth is significant, in certain regions, the total addressable market (the relevant category of viable customers) is limited by infrastructure constraints. Flutterwave has raised US$474.7 million in funding and is valued at US$3 billion, according to CB Insights. The American luxury lifestyle brand storming the Cotswolds, Trump or not, US meltdown could be inevitable, Its the opposite of last year: the Hamptons shifting property market, FT ranking: The Americas Fastest-Growing Companies 2022, Alexandria Pharmaceuticals & Chemical Industries, M.M. These typically include weak mobile and internet penetration in some markets, lack of identification coverage, and limited payment railsthe backbone of all digital transfers of money. Key strategies here have included building agent networks or using preexisting infrastructure such as physical shops for delivery of financial services. TymeBank reaches 3m customers, 700 retail kiosks, ITWeb, March 31, 2021. Top 30 Fintech Companies in Nigeria 2020 - FinanceNGR Two Nigerian companies top the latest list of the continent's fastest growing companies. This amount was also more than double the $1.35 billion investment that fintechs in Africa raised in 2020, and triple the amount in 2019. These are also the markets that have attracted the most venture capital and where unicorns (companies valued at $1bn+) and would-be unicorns have proliferated. Founded in 2009, Paga was one of the country's earliest fintech companies. However, fintech start-ups in Africa are facing four key challenges on the road to sustainability: reaching scale and profitability, navigating an uncertain regulatory environment, managing scarcity, and building robust corporate governance foundations. Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: who was the greatest footballer? Its current funding stands at $ 83 million Yoco has processed over US$2 billion in card payments, and the platform is now the preferred digital payments solution for over 200 000 small and micro merchants across South Africa, processing more than US$1billion in payments per year. List of top Africa FinTech Companies - Crunchbase Hub Profile Hub Africa FinTech Companies Summary Overview Number of Organizations 911 Industries FinTech Industry Groups Financial Services Location Africa CB Rank (Hub) 35,807 Number of Founders 1,004 Average Founded Date Sep 22, 2016 Percentage Acquired 4% Percentage of Public Organizations 0% Its latest round was a US$250 million Series D it secured in February 2022. Fintech in Africa: The end of the beginning | McKinsey Valuations, however, have come under pressure in recent months. analyse how our Sites are used. The revenue figures were then converted into US dollars for better comparability in the ranking. Flutterwave Flutterwave was founded in 2016 in Lagos, Nigeria and its. The platform has two distinct capabilities, which work together to provide a full digital banking service: Core, the technology which provides end-to-end, next generation banking infrastructure, and Unify, a learning machine which analyzes data to reduce the cost and risk of lending. The company works with various banks in Kenya, including FNB. Founded in 2018 in Egypt, MNT-Halan started out as a ride-sharing and delivery app before becoming a super app and the countrys leading fintech ecosystem. Twitter . Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. M-KOPA provides connected asset financing solutions for underbanked customers in key markets across Sub Saharan Africa. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. (1), Revenue of at least US $1.5mn generated in 2020. 02 Jun 2023 13:55:26 Users can also earn PalmPoints from referrals, deposits, and transfers. It said at the time that it would use the proceeds to scale its platforms capacity, evolve its services and increase the number of financial products on offer to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), provide longer term lending options for merchants and bigger businesses, and expand to new markets such as Nigeria and Cameroon. The project was also advertised online and in print, allowing all eligible companies to register online via Statista or the Financial Times between October 6, 2021 and February 15, 2022. Meet the Fintechs in Financial Times' fastest-growing companies in The average exchange rate for the financial year indicated by the company was used for this purpose. In Africa, infrastructure constraints have meant that the continents oldest fintechsfor example, Fawry in Egypt, M-Pesa in Kenya, and Interswitch in Nigeriaentered markets by building infrastructure specific to a single country and, as a result, are now the market leaders. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Africa's fintech startups have raised as much as $900 million in the past six and a half years, and analysts at Tellimer predict that there will be even more funding flowing into these ventures . ITNewsAfrica.com is an African Technology Advisory (Pty) Ltd. publication. Currently, about 70 percent of fintech start-up deals are financed by investors headquartered outside of Africa, most of them in North America. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated existing trends toward digitalization and created a fertile environment for new technology players, even as it caused significant hardship and disrupted lives and livelihoods across the continent. The average exchange rate for the financial year indicated by the company was used for this purpose. For example, South Africas first digital bank, TymeBank, overcame infrastructure challenges through a strategic alliance with major retailers. Accelerex named top fintech company in Africa for excellence in What's the most common types of sub-organization? Fintech companies have emerged as significant actors in Africas financial-economic revolution, and many of them are worth keeping an eye on. How are IPOs trending over time in this hub? The Financial Times (FT) has released its inaugural annual ranking of Africas fastest-growing companies. Series A, Seed, Private Equity), Average of the Crunchbase Ranks of the organizations in this hub, Organization Name: Name of the Organization, Total Funding Amount: Total amount raised across all funding rounds, CB Rank (Organization): Algorithmic rank assigned to the top 100,000 most active Organizations, Trend Score (30 Days): Movement in Rank over the last 30 days using a score from -10 to 10, Total number of funding rounds associated with this hub, Total funding amount raised across all funding rounds, Total number of acquisitions made by organizations in the hub, Announced Date: Date that the Funding Round was publicly announced, Organization Name: Name of the organization that got funded, Transaction Name: Auto-generated name of transaction (e.g. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 1: Stripe. If you want to get featured contact us. Countries that do not use the dollar to express revenues had to provide the average local currency value equivalent over the course of the relevant fiscal year. The revenue growth between 2018 and 2021 was primarily organic (ie internally stimulated), 1 Countries that do not use the dollar to express revenues had to provide the average local currency value equivalent over the course of the relevant fiscal year, 2 All countries in the African continent were eligible to participate. Successful fintechs will likely need an ambitious strategy to attract, develop, and retain the very best talent. It ranks them by their compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and absolute growth rate. The Kenyan company achieved the highest compound annual growth in revenues between 2017 and 2020 and, in March, raised $125mn in a Series B funding round. Missing data entries (employee numbers, address data, etc) were researched in detail. 10 Most Popular Fintech Companies In Africa The startup lists Access bank, Interswitch, and uLesson among its list of "hundreds" of businesses using their platform. These companies were invited to participate in the competition by post and email. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Revenue of at least US $100.000 generated in 2017. Across Africa, just three countries have real-time payments and the necessary payment rail infrastructure in place. Chipper Cash has raised US$302 million in funding, according to CB Insights and Dealroom, and is valued at US$2 billion. For example, M-Pesa and MTN both have a strong lending component in addition to their wallets, while Paga has leveraged its strong position in wallets to expand into merchant acquiring. African fintech startups to watch in 2022 | Business Insider Africa Flash News: OKX Wallet Users Can Now Access SquidGrow's Swap Product (SGS), OKX Proposes Industry-First BRC-30 Token Standard to Enable Bitcoin and BRC-20 Token Staking. Venture capital group Novastar was an early funder. It created a unique partnership with Infinx, Techno and Intel with its app pre-installed on these devices. Reach me at Luis@ITNewsAfrica.com, ITNA Digital Innovation Podcast EP 6 Talking Public Sector Cybersecurity with Nclose. The calculation of company growth rates is based on the revenue figures submitted by the companies in the respective national currency. For this list, we've used data from CB Insights, Dealroom and these companies' own public releases. Africa's fintech ecosystem is one of the fastest growing globally reaching $2B USD in 2022, according to data from Briter Bridges. The minimum CAGR required to be included in the ranking this year was 7.99 per cent. In addition to existing roadblocks, a tightening funding environment will likely put more pressure on Africas nascent fintech sector. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. OPay has raised US$570 million in disclosed funding and is valued at US$2 billion, according to CB Insights. Finserve. GDP per capita in Africa is the lowest of any continent, and fintechs have adjusted to this by, for example, using scale to reduce the cost of serving customers, as M-Pesa has done, or changing the business model to pay-as-you-go for businesses that cant afford advance payments, as Yoco has done. Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: who was the greatest footballer? This inaugural FT list was compiled with Statista, a research company, and ranks African companies by their compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue, between 2017 and 2020. The cohort includes eleven startups from Nigeria - Ashiri NG, bunce, DeemPay, Fluna, Incash, KoinWa, Stacs, Vagrent . Finance, Fintech, Platform Based out of Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya. Second, to achieve sustainable growth, companies that have a long history of operating on the continent have built their success on rapid customer acquisition. The Kenyan technology company, founded in 2013, had revenues of $27.4 million in 2020 and a staff base of 80 employees. A lot of my friends. Wasoko, formerly Sokowatch, which heads the ranking, is one of several on the continent seeking to cut the cost of doing business in the massive informal commerce sector, by helping to deliver goods to traders more efficiently. While the lions share of value in the market (approximately 40 percent of revenues) is currently concentrated in South Africa, which has the most mature banking system in the continent, Ghana and francophone West Africa are expected to show the fastest growth, at 15 percent and 13 percent per annum respectively, until 2025. The company said it would use the proceeds to further accelerate its expansion plans across Africa, its integration into the global digital payment ecosystem, its expansion into Asia, and its ambitious growth plans for Baxi, a Nigerian super-agent network company it acquired in 2021. Accelerex, one of the fastest growing fintech companies in Africa, has clinched the prestigious Excellence in Commerce Enablement Award at the Africa Fintech Summit 2023, which held on the 12 th of April, 2023 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington DC, United States.. personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to But the economic consequences of lockdown especially in crowded urban settings where many live hand to mouth have been devastating. The health and education sectors, for example spurred by unmet need and rising aspirations are among those offering most scope for growth. and M&A activities, notable investors of these companies, their management team, and recent news are also included. The 10 most popular fintech companies in Africa are: 1) RainFin RainFin is a South African peer-to-peer lender that connects and allows you to easily and quickly lend or borrow to people around you. The following are the fintech firms that made it into the FT annual ranking of Africas fastest-growing companies. FinTech Startups in South Africa Last Updated: May 17, 2023 There are 1,041 FinTech startups in South Africa. However, growth in financial services across Africas 54 countries will not be uniform. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 4 of the top 5 funding deals were in Nigeria. In todays world of hybrid working, this is even more critical than before. All Rights reserved. This list of companies and startups in Africa in the fintech space provides data on their funding history, investment activities, and acquisition trends. Based out of Bryanston, NA - South Africa, South Africa. The African fintech space is growing exponentially, but the development of the fintech ecosystem is still in the early stages. It also provides services across personal investments, including stock trading. AfCFTA's promising future: Boosting African trade amidst obstacles, See the ambitious Sh1.4 trillion ($10 billion) project the president of Kenya is involved in, Chat GPT for Building Design: How Archistar brings artificial intelligence to the property sector, detailed how 62% of the $4.65 billion that was raised by African startups in 2021 went to fintechs, 10 African startup founders & CEOs to watch in 2022. Business Insider Africa presents five African fintech startups to watch in 2022. List of the Top Fintech Companies in Nigeria. Africa's top Fintech Companies of 2020 - FurtherAfrica A growing fintech industry has the potential to create jobs, skills, opportunities, and wealth across the continent. and other data for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, Chipper Cash claims over four million customers and says it has issued more than 300,000 Visa cards, processing over US$1.5 billion worth of transactions every quarter. The following are the fintech firms that made it into the FT annual ranking of Africa's fastest-growing companies.