5 African fintech startups to watch in 2023

5 African fintech startups to watch in 2023

Fintech is one of the most dynamic and innovative sectors in Africa, with hundreds of startups offering solutions for payments, lending, banking, insurance and more. In 2022, African fintech startups raised over $1.4 billion in funding, according to Disrupt Africa, and attracted global attention with acquisitions and partnerships.

Africa is a continent with immense potential for innovation and growth in the financial sector. According to the World Bank, more than 60% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is unbanked, meaning they lack access to formal financial services such as savings, credit, insurance and payments. However, thanks to the rapid adoption of mobile phones and internet connectivity, many African entrepreneurs are developing innovative solutions to address this gap and provide affordable and convenient financial services to millions of people.

In this blog post, we will highlight five African fintech startups that are making waves in the industry and have the potential to scale up and impact millions of lives in 2023 and beyond.

Okra

Okra is a Nigerian startup that provides an API platform for connecting bank accounts to third-party applications. Founded in 2019, Okra has secured partnerships with major players like Access Bank, Interswitch and uLesson, and raised $10 million in a seed round led by TLcom Capital and Accenture Ventures. Okra enables businesses to access real-time financial data, initiate payments, verify identity and perform direct debits from customers’ bank accounts.

Moove

Moove is a Nigerian mobility fintech that provides revenue-based vehicle financing to drivers and transport entrepreneurs across Africa. Launched in 2019, Moove has facilitated over $200 million in loans for more than 10,000 drivers on platforms like Uber and Bolt. Moove leverages data and technology to assess credit risk and offer flexible repayment terms based on drivers’ earnings. Moove raised $68.5 million in a Series A round led by Speedinvest and Left Lane Capital.

Tabby

Tabby is an Egyptian startup that offers a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service for online and offline shoppers in the Middle East and North Africa. Founded in 2019, Tabby allows customers to split their purchases into four interest-free installments or pay after 14 days with no fees. Tabby partners with over 2,000 merchants across various sectors, including fashion, electronics, beauty and travel. Tabby raised $50 million in a Series B round led by Global Founders Capital and STV.

Wave

Wave is a Senegalese startup that provides a mobile money service that allows users to send and receive money instantly and securely via their phones. Founded in 2018, Wave aims to make mobile money more accessible and affordable by charging no fees for transactions and offering competitive exchange rates. Wave operates in Senegal, Uganda, Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, where it claims to have over 5 million active users and process over $2.5 billion in annualized payment volume. Wave raised $200 million in a Series A round led by Sequoia Heritage and Stripe.

JUMO

JUMO is a South African startup that operates a technology platform for building and running financial services for emerging markets. Founded in 2014, JUMO partners with banks, mobile network operators and fintech companies to offer credit, savings and insurance products to underserved customers. JUMO has served over 20 million customers and disbursed over $3 billion in loans across 15 markets in Africa and Asia. JUMO raised $55 million in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs.

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Check out other Microsoft stories making the news across Africa and the Middle East region.

PayAngel to innovate faster with the Microsoft Founders Hub opportunity

PayAngel to innovate faster with the Microsoft Founders Hub opportunity

PayInc Group Limited, trading as PayAngel is announcing its selection into the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub program. A Microsoft program that seeks to remove traditional barriers that startups face when building a company. PayAngel believes the program will help them innovate faster and accelerate their growth. The company offers remittance and payment solutions to the African Diaspora.

PayAngel Microsoft Founders hub

Microsoft Africa Transformation Office in March this year launched the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub in new initiatives to accelerate the growth of 10,000 African startups and fast-track investment in Africa’s start-up ecosystem. It is a new digital and all-inclusive platform that gives startups free access to Microsoft technology, tools, coaching, and support to build and scale their business. It also includes opportunities for the startups to sell to Microsoft’s corporate and enterprise customers.

Jones Amegbor, CEO of PayAngel, notes that the exclusive technology packages in the Hub will allow the company to innovate faster and accelerate its growth.

What this means to our existing and new customers is a more robust, secured and enhanced system, expansion to other territories and straight-through service delivery”.

Beyond access to technology, the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub program empowers young entrepreneurs to innovate and grow by connecting through their mentoring program. Which provides them with industry, business, and technical support to guide them through their next business milestones.

Founders also get access to Microsoft Learn and a variety of programs to help them build connections with customers and accelerate their growth.

The Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub centres around these three key areas:

Unlocking innovations for all: The platform eliminates traditional barriers founders face when starting, such as venture capital requirements or third-party validation to help any founder, regardless of background, location, or access, to be successful.

Technology benefits that grow: Keeping pace with a startup’s lifecycle, the platform helps founders speed development with free access to GitHub and the Microsoft Cloud with the ability to unlock additional benefits over time

Access to mentorship and guidance: Through the platform, startups can connect with industry veterans, access tailored startup-centric training and innovate quickly with expert technical guidance.

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Top essential tools you need to grow your business

Top essential tools you need to grow your business

Running a business is indeed a hectic one but some top essential tools can help lighten the load.

You might have a better idea as you are currently doing so. In order to ensure the growth of your business, you must ensure that your business is not getting stuck in terms of proper communication, productivity, project tracking, client handling, or anything.

You always must ensure that you are adopting whatever process or technology you can in order to make the process smoother, simpler, faster, and obviously more efficient. 

There are some tools designed for conducting particular tasks. You can get them and implement them in your business software to ensure the growth of your business. The most interesting part is that you can get them for free from here.  

Top Essential Tools to grow a small business africa india usa

Top Essential Tools You Need To Grow Your Business

Now, we will talk about the tools that you need for the proper growth of your business. 

Time Tracking Software

When you are running a business, you might notice that everything revolves around time management. 

From evaluating time being spent on creating products, running projects, or completing everyday tasks, everything reflects the efficiency and productivity levels of our company. 

Here a time tracking tool will assist you in analyzing your employees’ efficiency, removing redundancies, and improving the company’s process. 

Here are some of the best time tracking software. 

  • Time Doctor.
  • Toggle Track.
  • Clockify.
  • Tick.
  • QuickBooks Time. 

CRM Solution

Business is all about maintaining a healthy and fruitful relationship with clients. And often, handling all those customer details gets overwhelming. Here, a customer relationship management or CRM tool can really help you with organizing customer profiles more thoroughly. 

After collecting customer data, with the help of CRM software, you will be able to easily update them. All your team will have access to that data with a single platform. 

Here are some of the top CRM tools you can use in 2022. 

  • Monday.com
  • Oracle Netsuite.
  • Freshworks CRM.
  • Zoho CRM.
  • HubSpot. 

Blogging And Social Media

When you are thinking about covering those extra miles and also want to give your customers more information, blogging is a great way of doing so. 

This way, you will be able to tell your target audience that you want to put more effort into developing communication through information sharing. Also, when you are running a blog, social media platforms can work really well. 

With the help of social media platforms and blogging solutions, you will be able to reach different levels of marketing. 

Planning And Scheduling Software

Planning and scheduling software is another essential tool for your business growth. This will help you to stay organized and efficient. The best part is that these types of tools work simply great with CRM tools. 

When you are getting tools, it will be best to decide the features beforehand, as per your business requirements. Also, you should always have an option for upgrading your license. 

Here are some top names of planning and scheduling tools for your business. 

Employee Communication Tool

When you have a proper streamlined process for your employee communication, your business will automatically grow more. For daily communications, all those messaging platforms, such as

These can work really well. The efficiency and capability of all these tools are not only limited to communication but also extended up to sharing files, scheduling voice and audio calls, employee groups, and a lot more things.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

We believe after going through this article; you will now be able to figure out what tools you need to grow your business. Still, in case you have any doubts, you can reach us anytime. We will try to come up with a solution as soon as possible. 

Till then, here are some questions with answers which might help you. 

Q1: What Is The Most Useful Business Tool? 

Here is a list of essential tools that you require for your business. 

  • Email marketing tools. 
  • Communication tools. 
  • Human resource tools. 
  • Accounting tools. 
  • Project and task management tools. 

Q2: What Can I Use To Make My Business Grow?

Growing a business always needs time and energy; still, here are some things that will make your work a little easier. 

  • Do your research on the market. 
  • Create a sales funnel. 
  • Increase customer retention. 
  • Participate in networking events. 
  • Practice corporate social responsibility. 
  •  From strategic partnership. 

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13 startups join the Microsoft Scale-up Accelerator program

13 startups join the Microsoft Scale-up Accelerator program

GreenHouse Capital is announcing that 13 pre-series A startups will be joining the Microsoft Scale-up Accelerator program. They will get access to technology, skilling programs and an opportunity to co-sell with Microsoft. As well as support from Microsoft engineering and product teams for co-innovation opportunities. The startups are from Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania and feature six male and seven female founders.

The scale-up accelerator program is a partnership program between GreenHouse Capital and Microsoft. It seeks to provide startups with technology infrastructure, technical skills, and funding to enable them rapidly launch in new markets.

In March this year, Microsoft announced new initiatives under its Africa Transformation Office (ATO) to accelerate the growth of startups in Africa and fast-track investment in Africa’s startup ecosystem. By supporting African startups with $500 million in potential funding. It also plans to accelerate the growth of 10,000 African startups over the next five years by partnering with accelerators, tech hubs and incubators across Africa, such as GreenHouse Capital, to achieve this.

The six weeks acceleration program will see the startups participate in 12 instructor-led sessions, 10 workshops and three-panel discussions. It will also feature a demo day session that will bring global investors to meet the start-up founders. Sessions are tailored to help the startup’s scale raise subsequent funding rounds.

Earlier Flapmax, another partner introduced 12 startups to kick off the FAST startup accelerator program.

Here are the startups, the founders and their countries.

Scale-Up Accelerator program startups

scale-up accelerator africa microsoft greenhouse capital

Ourpass (Samuel Eze, Rogers Mugisa), Nigeria 

One Health (Adeola Alli), Nigeria  

BuuPass (Sonia Kabra, Wycliffe Omondi), Kenya  

GetEquity (Jude Dike, Temitope Ekundayo, William Okafor), Nigeria 

Gobeba (Lesley Mbogo, Peter NdianguI ), Kenya  

Oystr (Ifedolapo Lawal, Olusola Onajobi), Nigeria  

Afya Bora (Reginald Victor Runyoro, Tisha Singh), Tanzania 

Chekkit (Dare Odumade), Nigeria  

Zydii (Joyce Mbaya, Rhoda Kingori), Kenya  

Eight medical (Ibukun Tunde Oni), Nigeria  

Herconomy (Ife Durosinmi-Etti), Nigeria

Pharmarun (Teniola Adedeji, Lola Aderemi), Nigeria

 Mobiele (Ife Akintaju, Sayo Owolabi), Nigeria 

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21 startups qualify for Microsoft MEA GrowthX Accelerator program

21 startups qualify for Microsoft MEA GrowthX Accelerator program

Twenty-one business to business (B2B) tech startups will participate in the second cohort of the Microsoft GrowthX Accelerator program. They will work to co-create technology solutions with partners such as DHL, Etisalat, EY, Koç Holding, Lulu Hypermarket, and PwC. The startups will spend 12-weeks of virtual and physical workshops and training in the United Arab Emirates, thanks to its partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO).

GrowthX Accelerator program Microsoft for Startups

The accelerator program is designed to bridge the gap between corporates and B2B startups across the Middle East and Africa. By connecting them with large corporations with specific problem statements they are looking to solve. The 12-week program runs from March to June 2022. It will empower the B2B tech startups with technology, mentoring and market access.

We’ve built on the success of the first GrowthX Accelerator says Roberto Croci, Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups. To develop a second edition that is even more hands-on and offers even more value for participating startups, he adds.

The 21 startups participating in this event will gain incredible knowledge from mentors in the program. That will not only help them scale their businesses but drive real impact across the region. Together with ADIO, we look forward to empowering this second cohort of startups to develop their innovative ideas into next-generation solutions that can further drive our position as a global hub for technology and entrepreneurship.”

Roberto Croci

Here are the startups from across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region participating in the Microsoft for Startups program.

Meet GrowthX Accelerator program cohort 2 startups

  • AiFlux – provider of digital solutions to the renewables and oil & gas industries.
  • DevisionX – supports organizations in the manufacturing industry in building no-code AI-powered digital solutions.
  • Event Gates (EGT Kontrol AS) – develops AI solutions for security and manufacturing verticals.
  • Farmdar – empowers farmers with actionable data to lower costs, increase yield, enhance quality and reduce waste.
  • Farmin – AI-powered platform that delivers critical insights for smart cities.
  • Greener Crop – supports farmers in leveraging technology to operate profitable farms and harvest sustainable, nutrient-rich and locally grown fruits and vegetables.
  • AI – a software company with a focus on digitizing physical spaces.
  • Lune Technologies – developer and manufacturer of fiber optics and terahertz-based technology products for the aerospace, automotive, defence, energy and infrastructure industries.
  • monak e-services – on-demand delivery service
  • NutzenTech – provides data and technology-focused B2B and B2G solutions that reduce environmental footprint.
  • Nybl – a machine learning platform that turns underutilized data into actionable intelligence.
  • Occicor – helps CPG companies achieve better shelf management by transforming images into actionable data.
  • Olymon Solutions – provides smart automation solutions to unify the processes of grocers and food traders.
  • Pivony – a self-service web platform used to discover conversation topics and obtain insights from real user-generated data
  • PowerDev – unifies the energy market big data from multiple resources and provides a robust SaaS data analysis tool.
  • Sav – a platform that enables you to manage your finances better and is the most convenient way to achieve your financial goals.
  • Searover – provides AI and robotic solutions with a focus on predictive and preventive maintenance solutions in solar, wind and hydropower generation.
  • Swftbox – A plug & play platform that offers retailers faster deliveries (same day, next day) through its courier network and complete fulfilment services.
  • Trade Capital Partners (TCP) – trade finance FinTech that offers working capital solutions for SMEs and startups in Emerging Markets.
  • Valorafutbol – a Software as a Service product designed to increase reach, engagement and monetization opportunities for media, sports and entertainment stakeholders.
  • Workfam – a gamified employee engagement platform

The Microsoft for Startups MEA GrowthX Accelerator program has grown from the 15 startups that participated in the first cohort.

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