A utility token, KamPay to deploy blockchain to bring internet to parts of Africa that do not have it. It is set to open up internet access to the huge populations across the world without internet access.
Digital payments based on blockchain technology will become a necessity for everyday remittance since Central Bank Digital Currencies have been adopted across Africa. Meanwhile, with just 22% of Africans having internet connections (IFC), there is a large number of people that will not be able to benefit from this technology.
This is what KamPay aims to change with the launch of its KamMobile technology which can allow anyone with a mobile phone (650m-50% of Africa) to be able to make use of the blockchain via SMS.
Through a lot of SMS commands, users will be able to create wallets on key blockchains, and eventually be able to deposit and withdraw using the mobile money, as well as be able to conduct P2P transactions. The technology works are similar to the mobile money model that is found in countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Kenya, where users’ funds are kept in a digital account that is linked to their phone number.
KamPay will be aiding its launch in the market through its partnerships with Tingo Mobile PLC that has above 10 million mobile customers, as well as with African Grain and Seed (AGS) to reach millions of farmers across the world.
KamPay and AGS already have an ongoing partnership, providing microlending to 50,000 farmers in the rural side of Zimbabwe. It also ensures the allocation of funds by setting wallets with assignments that can only be used on pre-approved catalogs selected by AGS.
The SMS technology aims to reach across the entire continent and to go beyond rural microlending to being part of millions’ day-to-day. This initiative is supported through other tools that are being launched by KamPay, these include merchant and end-user access to low-fee facilities to allow daily remittance in the world, aiding mass adoption.
Yigal Weinberger, KamPay’s CTO said, “This is a game-changer and the key to making it possible not only for Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole but also for other developing regions struggling with low internet and smartphone penetration challenges to benefit from the advancements of crypto technology”.
According to the KamPay team, KamMobile is still in the development stages and will be launched by the end of the year in 2021 for the ‘SMS to wallet’ set up. The beta version of the mobile money or fiat to crypto purchasing platform will be launched in the first quarter of 2022 while the main rollout is scheduled to be launched in the second quarter of 2022.
KamPay To Deploy Blockchain To Areas In Africa Without Internet Access
Nigerian Restaurant Management Platform Orda Raises $1.1M Pre-Seed Fund
Orda, formerly called StarKitchens, has announced that it has raised a $1.1 million pre-seed fund to scale up across Africa. Orda describes itself as a cloud-based restaurant operating system crafted for African chefs and food business owners.
The round was led by LoftyInc Capital, and saw participation from other investors such as Techstars Boulder, Magic Fund, Hustle Fund, Norrsken Foundation, Oxford Seed Fund, DFS Labs, amongst others. Angel investors that participated as well include Ire Aderinokun, Jesse Ovia and Ademola Adesina.
Orda’s market is in the Africa restaurant industry wherein a lot of small restaurants make use of offline ways to produce receipts and make reconciliations; Orda aims to provide an alternate means of managing food businesses. “There are two kinds of restaurants where the majority of our focus is on — the bukkas [local restaurants] and the small restaurants, for instance,” Orda co-founder and CEO, Guy Futi, said.
The startup, founded in 2020, helps restaurants to manage their business processes online, through integrating local payments, logistics, inventory management as well as business analytics. Restaurants on the platform are also enabled to accept and process orders from food delivery platforms like Jumia Food, Bolt Food; as well as social media channels such as WhatsApp.
Futi expressed that the adoption from restaurants in its current markets —Nigeria and Kenya— has been “very seamless” and that the software doubles its growth rate every three weeks.
As of now, Orda charges restaurants between N2,500 ($5) to N30,000 ($50) on a monthly basis to access its software. Orda plans to build financial products, and dive into processing payments for restaurants. The startup is further working on expanding into South Africa by the end of 2022.
Speaking on the investment, Idris Ayo Bello, managing partner of LoftyInc Capital, said, “We loved investing in Orda because it is building the core digital infrastructure for restaurants across Africa. The team has done the hard work of figuring out the core problems that African restaurant owners are facing and is building a solution that can revolutionise the food business across the continent.”
The Future of FinTechs and Open Banking in Africa
FinTechs and Open banking are entangled, for open banking to thrive there is a need for the banking sector to absolve fintech solutions into its system. Just as Fintechs in Africa is seeing an increase in investment which is leading to its expansion across the African continent.
Various businesses are feeling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the financial sector (banks) are not immune to it. For so many banks, the economic impact has been notably glaring.
As a result, moving to online financial services is increasing at a drastic pace as a plethora of Fintechs. Also, neobanks and non-traditional financial services are continuously expanding their activities.
As these payment methods became global during the pandemic, Africa has emerged as the new Fintech hub for all.
Due to the expansion across the continent, its potentials are enormous, especially in the sub-Saharan Africa region. This region has traditionally lagged behind from limited access to financial services.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy with a population of almost 210 million got over 60% of Africa’s inbound Fintech investment in 2021. Even though more than 50% of Nigerians still do not have a bank account.
In 2021, 4 African Fintech companies achieved outstanding status with over $1 billion valuations. The companies are Opay, Wave, Chipper Cash, and flutterwave.
Opay: a mobile payment company that raised funds from investors including SoftBank
Wave: Senegal based mobile money network
Chipper Cash: the operator of a peer-to-peer payment that has the backing of Jeff Bezos
Flutterwave: offers payment services to businesses
Fintechs and Open banking
If the future of the Africa banking sector looks promising, then open banking seems set to play a vital role in the continent.
The provision of third-party financial service providers gives access to transaction, consumer banking, and other financial data through API.
Being an open-source tech, it gives room for third-party developers like fintech to access data withheld by banks. Also, to develop applications or services using the withheld data.
With this stress-free data connection, open banking allows customers access to products that suites their needs. It will lower costs and also encourage innovations and inclusion.
Africa’s demand for open banking needs the banking sector to absolve fintech solutions into its system. Some of which are already in progress by some countries.
In December 2020, the Kenya Central Bank announced its 4-year strategy which includes an open infrastructure as one of its main strategic objectives.
In 2019 at the height of the pandemic, two large South African banks embraced open banking. Hence, leading to an increase of South African Banks that offers open banking services to about 6.
Meanwhile, TrueID and Okra- a South African and Nigerian startup respectively also announced receiving funding to develop open banking infrastructure.
The EU and UK have addressed the legislative challenge. The concern of the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) Order and the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) is the customer’s consent.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the required regulatory framework that is integral to the smooth operations of open banking in the future is yet to materialize. Regulations such as data protection laws.
Meanwhile, a large population remains underbanked or even unbanked across lots of Africa regions using South Africa as a case study. The opportunity is there for banks across the continent to be involved in open banking solutions, seeing to the needs of consumers and bringing to the limelight a new concept of African banking.
Therefore, legislators across Africa need to see the huge benefit that open banking will facilitate such as financial inclusion as well as its beneficial impact on access and affordability.
Orcas an Egyptian Ed-tech Raises $2.1m Pre-Series A Funding
Orcas an Egyptian Ed-tech raises $2.1m Pre-Series A funding as it prepares expansion into Pakistan in the early months of 2022.
The Egyptian ed-tech was founded in the year 2019 by Hossam Taher and Amira El Gharib. Orcas make provision of live one-on-one tutoring sessions (offline and online) for K-12 students.
The Egyptian ed-tech, Orcas also provides a learning environment that encourages self-pace to complement the learning experience.
The progress of Orcas
The Egyptian startup is now fully active in Saudi Arabia and is now expanding to Pakistan after the recent raising of $2.1 million pre-series A funding.
The round was led by Access Bridge Ventures and CIRA’s NFX Ventures. There was also participation from Cairo Angels Syndicate, Algebra Ventures, Seedstars international, and Launch Africa Ventures.
A lot of learners today have different needs that require attention from Edtech companies. These needs are what Orcas use as yardsticks to offer the best.
Orcas is a learning platform that offers the complete spectrum of self-paced and teacher-led learning platforms. With this funding, there will be the capability to be able to continuously attract great talent, build technological products, and expand to new areas.
The CEO of Cairo Angels Syndicate, Aly El Shalakany said the investment in Orcas encompasses all that the fund should cater for.
In other words, the plans for the fund are to double down and invest best performing startups and to continue to support amazing founders like Amira and Hossam in building great businesses.
“We are very proud of Orcas’ performance so far and are confident that with this latest investment they will continue to be market leaders within the space”
He also said;
“They will now have the capability to add more exciting educational solutions using cutting edge technology and also bring these new products to the market”.
Cyber Intelligence Africa 2022, Johannesburg, South Africa
The South African government is working hard towards becoming a more cyber-secure nation in years to come. In the ranking that was done recently, South Africa is heading in the right direction, however, there are still a lot of vulnerabilities that need stabilizing.
In this light, we are pleased to announce our Cyber Intelligence even to the African continent. The inaugural Cyber Intelligent Africa conference and exhibition will hold in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the 8th -9th of February, 2022. As the 2-day show goes on, you will hear from the regional governments, they will be discussing national cyber security strategies and policies, combating cybercrimes across Africa, threat intelligence and detection capabilities, international cooperation, and building cyber awareness.
The event will take place at Hilton Sandton Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Some of the speakers that will grace the occasion are Brigadier Piet Pieterse, Head of Cybercrime Investigation (CCI), South African Police Service (SAPS), Dhamir Mannai, Head of National Cyber Security Strategy, Government of Tunisia, Vladimir Aman, Head of Ivory Coast Computer Emergency Response Team (CI-CERT), Professor Basie von Solms, Director, Centre for Cyber Security, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, Ouanilo Jerome Medegan, Director, National Systems Security Agency, Benin, Dr. Lawan Mohammed, Ag. Director, Cyber Security Department, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigeria, and a host of others.
The event will avail you with unrivaled access to the regions of key government officials, who are implementing national cyber security programs and building cyber defense capabilities. Africa suffers from a lot of malware and ransomware intrusions as cybercriminals target the easiest organizations and computer systems to breach.
However, the government is working relentlessly to avoid future cyberattacks on their critical infrastructures.
Resecurity Inc., a California-based cybersecurity company is part of the sponsors of the event. Some of the Media Partners for Cyber Intelligence Africa 2022 are Aerospace & Defence Review, Asia Cloud Computing Association, Global Security Magazine, Homeland Security Research, e.t.c.
To register for the inaugural Cyber Intelligence Africa conference and exhibition as either a sponsor, delegate, speaker, or exhibitor, kindly contact us at events@intelligence-sec.com or on +44 1582 346 706.
Asaak Raises $30M Pre-Series A Funding to Support Operator’s Acquisition of MotorBikes, And Smartphones
Asaak raises $30M pre-series A funding. The Ugandan asset financing startup, has raised $30 million in pre-Series A equity and debt funding.
Resolute Ventures, Social Capital, HOF Capital, Founders Factory Africa, End Poverty Make Trillions, Decentralized VC, and a number of angel investors were among the new and existing investors in the round.
Asaak provides motorcycle financing to operators who are frequently turned down by traditional banks due to demanding security requirements such as income history and consistent account activity.
The company collaborates with a variety of partners, including mobility and e-commerce platforms, to make motorcycle ownership more accessible to riders who make a profession running motorbike taxis (bodaboda), a common mode of transportation in Africa, particularly in big cities like Kampala.
Bodaboda operators can now own the motorcycles they ride thanks to Asaak, whereas earlier, most of them were either employed by bike owners or rented or leased motorcycles.
“Asaak is enabling mobility-based labor, which is literally moving the economy forward and providing upward mobility for these people.”
“The lifeline of Africa is the bodaboda, which transports people and goods from home to school and work.
“All they need is access to motorcycles,” Asaak co-founder and chief business officer Dylan Terrill told TechCrunch.
“This leads to improved earning prospects and allows them to care for their families.”
Other members of the founding team include Anthony Leontiev, Edward Egwalu, and Kaivan Sattar.
The company certifies riders for motorbike finance using behavioural and financial data from platforms such as Bolt, Jumia, Safeboda, and Uber, such as earnings, trips taken, and ratings.
Asaak produces a credit score for debtors using rider data from these networks.
Borrowers can also check their eligibility for borrowing by using the Asaak app or visiting their local branch.
After a time of lending to farmers and SMEs, Asaak, which began operations in Soroti, Uganda in 2016, shifted its focus to motorbike finance in 2019.
The company has so far funded the acquisition of 5,000 motorcycles and has begun supplying the operators with smartphones and fuel funding.
“By financing these types of assets, we’re not only providing a road to vehicle ownership, which is beneficial in and of itself, but we’re also providing a reliable source of income due to the reliance of drivers in the nations where we operate.”
They’re collaborating with Samsung to encourage motorbike taxi drivers to get smartphones.
Last month, the company announced a new agreement with Untapped Global, an emerging markets investment firm, to offer financing for over 2,000 motorcycles over the next year.
Today, the startup has partnered with Standard Bank, a South African bank headquartered in Johannesburg with a presence in 20 African countries, to provide financial services to millions of workers in the informal sector (such as motorcycle taxi drivers) using the startup’s proprietary digital loan origination system.
As a result of this partnership, Asaak consumers will have access to customized financial and insurance services.
“While we frequently underestimate the strength of the boda-boda (motorcycle transport) in Africa, it is an ambulance, a chemist, and a chef — it provides you everything you need in many instances.”
It transports children to school, people to job interviews, and offers livelihoods for hundreds of millions of Africans,” said Aaron Akampa, head of direct digital and e-commerce at Stanbic Bank, Standard Bank’s Uganda operation.
“Ultimately, this is new territory for Standard Bank – we haven’t worked with any other players in this sector on the continent yet – it’s the first time we’re forming a partnership like this, and we can’t wait to see what lies ahead,” Akampa added.
Asaak wants to reach six more African markets in the near future as a result of its cooperation with the bank.
Float, Ghanaian Fintech Raises $17M Seed Funding to Expand Its Capabilities
Float, a Ghanaian fintech startup that provides corporate credit lines has secured $17 million in funding, which it will use to expand its capabilities geographically.
The seed round consisted of a $7 million equity investment and a $10 million debt investment.
Cauris provided the debt financing.
Tiger Global and JAM Fund, the investment firm of Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen co-led the equity bit.
Kinfolk, Soma Capital, Ingressive Capital, and Magic Fund are among the other VC firms investing in the equity round.
Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel, Sandy Kory of Horizon Partners, Ramp founders Karim Atiyeh and Eric Glyman, Gregory Rockson of mPharma, and Dutchie founders Zach Lipson and Ross Lipson were among the angel investors who attended.
Jesse Ghansah the CEO, started the company, formerly known as Swipe, with Barima Effah in 2020. After that, they rebranded the company to Float.
In June 2021, they launched their product.
In 2016, the chief executive came up with the idea for the YC-backed Ghanaian fintech while working at OMG Digital, a media firm he created that also went into YC.
“We needed financing, so we got an overdraft from a long-term partner bank where we’d done over $100,000 in business.”
In an interview with TechCrunch, the two-time YC founder said, “The bank required us to deposit 100% collateral in cash before they could give us the overdraft.”
“To make ends meet, I also recall borrowing money from loan sharks at astronomical interest rates, sometimes as high as 20% each month.”
“As a result, I decided to use Float to tackle similar problems.”
According to research, more than 51 percent of the 44 million formal SMBs in Sub-Saharan Africa believe they need more funding than they can get to expand their firms.
Some of these enterprises can’t acquire loans from traditional banks, so they turn to Float for help.
Float includes software solutions for businesses to manage accounts and wallets in one dashboard, as well as automate invoices, vendor or supplier payments, and invoice collections, in addition to flexible credit lines for businesses to bridge cash flow shortages.
The company aspires to be Africa’s “financial operating system” for small and medium-sized businesses.
Invoice advance, opening a business account, payment linkages, budget management, and spend cards are among the platform’s other capabilities.
Revenue advances and fast payouts are two new features that the company has lately launched.
With the latter, Float hopes that small firms can use its platform to rapidly access their profits rather than relying on gateways, which can take days to process.
Its invoice factoring service assists firms with outstanding invoices in receiving payment.
All of these elements, according to Ghansah, provide numerous types of credit for diverse industries and verticals across the continent.
“The major difficulty is that corporate financing requirements are so diverse.”
“The credit needs of a retail firm are significantly different from the credit needs of a services business, or the credit needs of agriculture, business, pharmaceutical, or medical supply industries,” the CEO explained.
“As a result, we’re attempting to figure out which credit products are best for various verticals. So that’s what we’ve been working on up to this point.”
Hundreds of organisations from a variety of industries have signed up for Float’s cash flow management and expenditure platform in the 7 months since its introduction, including retail and manufacturing, fintech, e-commerce, media, and health.
In that period, Float has spent $10 million on credit and made financial advances to enterprises.
The corporation says that the volume of payment transactions (invoicing and vendor payments) has increased 26 times.
Float isn’t the only African finance startup aiming to become the region’s “operating system” for small and medium businesses.
Other firms include Prospa, Brass, and Sparkle, which provide financial and cash flow support as well as software services to businesses.
Each firm asserts that the others are not competitors.
First, they believe the market is large enough for everyone to coexist.
Second, their products have a superiority complex – but they won’t admit it publicly.
Float takes pride in providing organisations with both financial and software services at the same time.
Then, instead of outright pricey loans, provide conveniently available flexible and short-term working capital.
“I believe that one of the ways we differentiate ourselves is in terms of credit flexibility, in terms of speed of access, and how soon you can draw down on credit,” Ghansah added.
“And then, for example, it’s flexible in terms of how you may take it out for a day and then pay it back the next day.”
Ghansah added on the call that Float, which is already present in Ghana and Nigeria, plans to utilize the fresh money to establish organisations in Kenya and South Africa by the second quarter of this year, as soon as it obtains operating licenses.
The money will also be put towards improving the company’s cash management platform and launching new credit solutions targeted at specific business verticals and industries.
In a statement, the CEO said, “Float set out on a mission to deliver increased cash flow and liquidity for millions of businesses throughout the continent to help them expand and fulfill their true potential.”
“With this additional capital, we will continue to improve both our credit and software solutions in order to provide the best possible service to our rapidly expanding customer base.”
“We’re thrilled to be Africa’s preferred growth partner.”
Talented Software Engineer, Trillbjm Wins 2 ECOWAS Recognitions
Talented software engineer, Oyemonlan Benjamin Oseoje, known as Trillbjm, got double recognitions in December 2021.
He is one of Africa’s most significant personalities in the fintech sector and was recognized as ECOWAS Youth Ambassador. He also received an excellence award from the regional body.
H.E. (Amb) Emmanuel S. William, the chairperson of the West African (ECOWAS) Youth Council, announced his appointment in a letter dated December 24, 2021.
“This appointment is not unconnected with your great antecedents of commitment, hard work, and perseverance in the field of humanitarian service, as well as your commendable works as an advocate and tireless campaigner for fostering entrepreneurship for African Youths,” the letter added.
He was given a certificate for the Nelson Leadership Award of Excellence and Integrity, in recognition of his “outstanding efforts as a man of high repute, serial entrepreneur, hardworking and goal-oriented personality with a strong interest in youth development and empowerment and a high regard for his integrity.”
Trillbjm, who attended the African Tech Leaders Private Scale Up Bootcamp in Kigali, Rwanda, from December 6 to 11, 2021, is widely regarded as one of Africa’s rising fintech stars in recent years.
Trillbjm is the CTO of several digital companies, including Patricia, an alternative payment solutions company that makes it easy to use cryptocurrencies for everyday transactions, Gloverapp, Nigeria’s leading gift card exchanger, Hankdevice, a Bluetooth product for locating lost devices, and Rooomxix, a luxury wear store.
He is the founder of Biller Pay, a cryptocurrency payment platform, and Nigeria Fashionnova, among other businesses.
The University of Lagos graduate and University of Michigan alumnus stated why he is so well-known in the fintech industry.
“I have so many tech entrepreneurs, software developers, and other tech-inclined people looking up to me on a regular basis, I have to be at the vanguard driving the wide acceptance of technology in this area of the world, he said”.
Blockchain Research Institute Expands Work, Partners Standard Bank
Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) is a global blockchain think tank that has expanded its work in Africa thanks to a partnership with Standard Bank, one of the continent’s largest banks.
The partnership has launched the Blockchain Research Initiative (BRI) Africa, which brings together academics, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and researchers to conduct ground-breaking research on blockchain technology, bridging the gap between blockchain’s technological functionality and real-world market demand.
As a result, the organization is working on more than 100 projects to explore strategic possibilities, difficulties, and consequences of blockchain technology in industry, government, and society.
Part of the think tank’s role will be to provide a variety of educational deliverables in the form of webinars, publications, and conferences as part of its efforts to disseminate the knowledge gained across the country.
The BRI will also offer an online course in conjunction with INSEAD, Europe’s top-ranked business school, and Coursera, the world’s largest online learning platform.
While most financial institutions have been ordered not to support cryptocurrency transactions, big banks across Africa are aware of the potential of cryptocurrencies – and it’s no surprise that Africa’s largest bank by assets is eager to harness the potential of crypto in Africa.
According to Ian Putter, the bank’s Head of Blockchain, the blockchain is being considered to improve speed and transparency.
Through the Africa Blockchain Incubation Program, the think tank is also nurturing business ideas centered on blockchain technologies. According to BRI Africa, the initiative, which is now open to new founders in Egypt and Zimbabwe, provides tools to help them develop and scale their businesses.
Lipa Later Raises $12 Million, Plans to Extend to More African Markets From Kenya
Lipa Later raises $12 million in pre-Series A funding. The Kenyan tech-led consumer lending platform plans to extend to other countries in Africa.
Cauris Finance, Lateral Frontiers VC (one of Lipa Later’s early investors), and GreenHouse Capital led the equity and debt investment round, which also included SOSV IV LLC, Sayani Investments, and Axian Financial Services.
The Kenyan BNPL startup, which was launched in 2018, is now planning to grow into Tanzania, Ghana, and Nigeria, as well as expand in its current markets of Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.
“As we strive to grow and extend into other African areas, we are thrilled to be working with our investors.”
“In the next 12 months, we want to quadruple our presence in existing regions while also expanding into 3 to 5 additional African markets,” said Eric Muli, co-founder, and CEO of Lipa Later.
“This latest round of funding leaves them well-positioned to extend their product offering and moves Lipa Later one step closer to being the leading Buy-Now-Pay-Later player on the continent,” said Samakab Hashi, partner at Lateral Frontiers VC.
Lipa Later has exclusive arrangements with businesses in various markets, allowing customers to pay in installments for their purchases.
Customers can pay for products like furniture, electronics, and even perishables in monthly installments thanks to Lipa Later’s cooperation with French retailer Carrefour (who has a regional presence).
Customers pay a monthly interest rate on the credit granted to them (approximately 2.3 percent in the case of Carrefour).
In order to expand into more African countries, the firm plans to form more agreements with merchants.
“Lipa Later is not only transforming the consumer credit landscape in Africa, which has been mostly inaccessible to most until now, but it is also igniting the future of shopping, e-commerce, and payments,” says the company.
Consumers can join up and receive a credit limit nearly instantaneously thanks to Lipa Later’s own credit rating and machine learning engine.
The company has also developed a BNPL API that links with e-commerce platforms and allows merchants to sell products directly to customers while also allowing customers to pay for items in monthly installments.
The latest finance follows an undisclosed 2020 investment by Tokyo-based Uncovered Fund, which invests in Africa’s early- and seed-stage firms. Lipa Later was one of five companies to get investment.
Lipa Later is a major competitor in Kenya’s BNPL market, competing against Aspira, Miti, Flexpay Technologies, and Julla.
According to this 2021 survey on Kenya, the BNPL payment business in the country has grown rapidly due to rapid e-commerce penetration and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic-related economic slowdown.
Kenya’s BNPL business is predicted to grow at a 30.8 percent CAGR from 2021 to 2028. From $51.6 million in 2020, the gross BNPL merchandise value is predicted to reach $589.5 million in 2028.
Lipa Later will face competition from Payflex (which was recently bought by Australian BNPL Zip) and PayJustNow in South Africa, as well as PayQart and Carbon Zero in Nigeria, in its quest to expand across Africa, where opportunities exist as e-commerce and alternative credit sources increase.