The Latest from Tage Kene-Okafor
YC-backed Djamo is building a financial super app for consumers in Francophone Africa
Djamo, a financial super app for consumers in Francophone Africa, is the first startup from Ivory Coast to get backing from Y Combinator. While there has been a huge profusion of financial services th
Will Carbon and Shahry usher in a wave of buy now, pay later services in Africa?
Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, Quadpay. These are some of the big global players in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) movement. They allow shoppers to purchase products online and pay in installments with nomi
Mono, a startup that wants to build Plaid for Africa, gets backing from Y Combinator
Prakhar Singh and ex-Paystack employee Abdul Hassan have known each other for seven years, building different tech products individually and collectively along the way. Before joining Paystack in 2018
Nigerian digital bank Carbon hit $240M in payments processed last year, up 89% from 2019
In 2018, Carbon, a Nigerian fintech startup, made its financials public for the first time. Although typical for foreign private startups, it’s almost an anomaly in Africa. There have been rare
Female-led startups dominate Catalyst Fund’s inclusive fintech 2021 cohort
Catalyst Fund, a global accelerator managed by BFA Global, announced the 8th cohort for its Inclusive Fintech Program today. The accelerator runs the flagship program annually and with a focus on Keny
Nigeria’s Cowrywise raises $3M pre-Series A to scale its wealth management platform
Cowrywise, a Nigerian fintech startup that offers digital wealth management and financial planning solutions, has raised $3 million in pre-Series A funding. Quona Capital led the round as Tsadik Found
These investors want to back ‘ridiculously early’ female-led African startups
In 2019, female-led companies received less than 5 percent of the global venture capital. Bringing it to Africa, only 10 percent of the West African startups that cumulatively raised $1 million had at
Early-stage African VC firm Microtraction reports portfolio boom despite the weight of COVID-19
In a year marred by the coronavirus pandemic, it seems that early-stage startups on the African continent are continuing to see some notable growth, both in terms of their business and from investors
Kenyan insurtech startup Pula raises $6M Series A to derisk smallholder farmers across Africa
Pula, a Kenyan insurtech startup that specialises in digital and agricultural insurance to derisk millions of smallholder farmers across Africa, has closed a Series A investment of $6 million. The rou
How fintech and serial founders drove African pre-seed investing to new heights in 2020
When Stripe-subsidiary Paystack raised its seed round of $1.3 million in 2016, it was one of the largest disclosed rounds at that stage in Nigeria. At the time, seven-figure seed investments in Afri
South African startup Aerobotics raises $17M to scale its AI-for-agriculture platform
As the global agricultural industry stretches to meet expected population growth and food demand, and food security becomes more of a pressing issue with global warming, a startup out of South Africa