The Fintech sector in Africa is expected to grow by $3 billion over the next two years, according to a recent report by independent pan-African banking group Ecobank. Fintech also has the potential to expand access to financial services and improve financial health for millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Village Capital and PayPal have selected a cohort of 12 early-stage Fintech startups from 165 applicants, each of which has developed an innovative technology or business model that has improved financial health for consumers and/or businesses alike. The companies are based in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria.
From March through May, the startups will participate in three four-day workshops to sharpen their case for investment and engage with potential customers, strategic partners, mentors, investors, sector experts, and PayPal employees. At the end of the program, we will offer USD$50,000 investments to the top two startups in the cohort, as selected by their peers (more on our peer-selected investment process here).
See the full list below. We specifically sought out startups that address insurtech, pensions and savings, cooperative finance, and financial literacy; leverage data for credit scoring and consumer insights; and apply Fintech to our other sectors of interest: agriculture, energy, education, and health.
VILLAGE CAPITAL FINTECH AFRICA 2018 COHORT
Annona (Kenya) is the leading technology platform for managing small-scale producers in global supply chains, helping them fulfill contracts and make digital payments.
CredPal (Nigeria) is a technology company that allows consumers to make purchases across various online and offline merchants and pay for it in installments.
Ensibuuko (Uganda) helps cooperative microfinance organizations automate how they manage customer and transaction data using Mobis, a cloud-based software platform.
Finance Life Technologies Limited (Riby Finance) (Nigeria) provides a software that enables cooperatives, associations and trade groups to automate and manage their financial transactions.
FPESA® (Kenya) helps small- and medium-sized Kenyan enterprises that transact foreign exchange discover, negotiate, book and settle foreign currency transactions.
GrassRoots Bima (Kenya) helps customers access insurance services simply and transparently through both online and offline applications.
Mazima Retirement Plan (Uganda) helps Africa’s informal sector save for retirement.
Numida Technologies (Uganda) is building the missing digital products that African small businesses need in order to thrive.
Patasente Inc (Uganda) provides purchase order financing for SMEs in Uganda.
Social Lender (Nigeria) is the leading credit lending solution based on social reputation on mobile, online, and social media platforms.
Tulaa (Kenya and Ghana) is a mobile-based marketplace that helps smallholder farmers in Africa access affordable finance, quality agricultural inputs, and markets.
Youverify (Nigeria) is an API for address and identity verification in Africa.
