Visa has selected 19 startups from across the continent to take part in the third edition of its biannual Africa Fintech Accelerator, which provides ventures with access to tools, industry connections, and mentorship to help them scale their innovative solutions.
Launched in 2023 in line with Visa’s pledge to invest US$1 billion in financial inclusion in Africa by 2027, the Africa Fintech Accelerator has so far accelerated 45 startups across two cohorts, with 15 active partnerships now in place.
Four startups that took part in the first programme last year recently secured strategic funding from Visa, which has now announced the 19 ventures selected for the third edition of the three-month programme.
Hailing from across the continent, the 19 startups will receive access to mentorship, technology credits, and opportunities to connect with potential investors during demo day, as well as the opportunity to secure strategic investment from Visa.
Four from Kenya of the selected startups are from Kenya, namely Credable, which provides a digital banking platform that enables businesses and financial institutions in MEA to offer financial services; Melanin Kapital, a carbon neobank offering African businesses green loans and carbon credits; Umba, a digital microfinance bank; and Zendawa, which supports neighbourhood pharmacies with online sales and embedded finance services.
Three are from South Africa, in the shape of Block Markets Africa, which uses asset tokenisation to build open financial market infrastructure; Ordev, which provides middleware solutions that integrate digital services for retail and hospitality businesses; and Sticitt, which simplifies school-related payments, increasing collections and reducing administrative tasks.
Another three are from Nigeria, namely Bumpa, which enables digital commerce for retail and direct-to-consumer businesses; Kredete, a digital lending marketplace; and NearPays, a full-service payment platform for businesses.
Egypt has two representatives – Enza, which helps banks engage SMEs with mobile-led payment acceptance and financial services, and MoneyHash, which consolidates multiple payment APIs into a single merchant integration point – while the rest of the cohort is comprised of Rwanda’s Fixa, Ethiopia’s Kacha, Algeria’s Moneco, Morocco’s WafR, Namibia’s Jabu, Cameroon’s PaySika, and Ghana’s WeWire.
