Africa-focused and early-stage venture capital firm GOODsoil VC announces it is investing nine hundred and forty thousand US dollars as seed capital in Ghanaian fintech company Zeepay.
This part of the company’s mission to drive financial inclusion across the African continent.
Firstly, by leading the global surge of investments into Africa’s fintech market. Secondly, by being an example and offering investors a case study of real ROI through their investments.
GOODsoil VC also intents on becoming a catalyst of economic growth for minority founders across Africa. Noting there is a level of disparity in global funding for African startups.
“There are clear barriers to entry for tech startups to scale” shares Charmaine Hayden, Managing Partner and Co-founder. “Our vision is to level the playing field” she continues.
Charmaine explains the deal not only highlights the levelling of disparity in global funding for African startups. But also the challenges inherent in various levels of funding.
“Whilst the growth of seed investment in Africa is incontestable, it does not reflect the same volume of exits that is able to attract mass investors to the market. In order to sustain real growth, we believe there needs to be an increase in trade sales (exits); real tangible successes that can have a light cast on them to increase investors appetite into the continent.”
Charmaine Hayden
Zeepay, used in more than 20 African markets focuses on digital rails to connect digital assets.
Through this investment, Zeepay will continue to scale and roll out its services across the continent. It will also help in Zeepay’s plans to extend its global reach with plans to launch in the UK in 2021.
“We are delighted to have GOODsoil on board,” says Zeepay co-founder and managing director Andrew Takyi-Appiah.
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Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Square, Inc. will be the closing keynote speaker at this years’ Africa Fintech Summit 2020.
The virtual summit will take place from the 9th to the 12th of November 2020. With Jack speaking on the 12th. His closing keynote will revolve around the concepts of decentralized finance and opportunities it creates for financial inclusion.
The three-day event will foster discussions on the fintech ecosystems across the continent. It will also look at fintech enabled businesses and the business of fintech across the region.
Jack’s Square Inc. introduced a suite of innovative tools and services that supports financial inclusion and the growth of businesses. With the company announcing recently it would become one of the first publicly traded U.S. companies to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
Africa Fintech Summit 2020 will host the regional finals of Pegasus Tech Ventures’ Startup World Cup global pitch competition. With the winner getting a chance to compete for US$1M at the global semi-finals in Silicon Valley in May 2021.
Nokwary Technologies are winners of the 2020 Ecobank Fintech Challenge hosted by the Ecobank Group. The finals of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge took place virtually and streamed live from Accra, Ghana.
Nokwary Technologies, edged out the rest of the finalists to emerge the winner of the competition. The first and second runner-up spots were taken by Ukheshe Payment and Solutions Growth Factor Technologies respectively. The 1st to 3rd place winners will receive cash prizes worth US$10,0000, $7,000, and US$5,000 respectively.
Nokwary Technologies
Nokwary, from Ghana, is a fintech that uses AI to promote financial inclusion. Its AI-Powered banking solution offers an opportunity for users to carry out transactions in a familiar language. They also use popular social media channels like Whatsapp.
Ukheshe
South Africa-based Ukheshe, which came in second, provides a bridge between the card and the cash economy. It has created the world’s first card acceptance platform that allows unbanked merchants/traders to accept and make digital payments.
Growth Factor
Third place, Growth Factor provides trade financing solutions designed for Micro-Small/Medium Entities (MSMEs) to encourage financial inclusion and growth. Its Nvoicia solution solves cash flow issues caused by delayed payments for SMEs. By enabling them to get paid in 24hrs when dealing with credit clients.
Ade Ayeyemi, Ecobank Group CEO, congratulated the winners for their innovation and welcomed all the 2020 fellows. “The quality of the products and pitches we saw in the final this year were amazing. Clearly it is evident that Banking in Africa is moving onto a new dimension with these Fintechs leading the way. That is why we are so proud to have had them in this year’s competition and are excited to engage further with them over the next year. It is our expectation that we will build a few lasting partnerships which will help improve the lives of Africans all over the continent.”
Winning the 2020 Ecobank Fintech Challenge
Dennis Asamoah Owusu, CEO, and Co-founder of Nokwary Technologies commented on his victory: “I was beyond excited. Our company is rather young and to be recognized like this on such a stage was really exciting as well as a validation for our focus on creating inclusive technology right from the start. It is also very encouraging to note that a major bank like Ecobank places such a premium on inclusion and is willing to back and promote innovative and cutting-edge technologies towards that purpose. We are looking to work together with Ecobank to bring an AI-first digital banking platform over WhatsApp, as well as other innovative solutions to Ecobank’s customers.”
This year’s Finalists made it through an extremely competitive pool of over 600 applicants across Africa, Europe, North America, and Asia. All ten (10) finalists have officially been inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship, a one-year program that will give them the opportunity to explore opportunities for commercial partnerships with the Ecobank Group, and to possibly launch and scale products across Ecobank’s 33 country markets in the continent.
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