| Nigeria | Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) releases guidelines for the eNaira The eNaira is Nigeria's Central Bank digital currency (CBDC) — a digital version of the Naira. The digital currency was initially billed to launch on October 1st, which has now been postponed indefinitely with the CBN governor citing the launch as a journey rather than a one off event. The newly released guidelines state the financial institutions (banks) it will be working with to launch the eNaira, must maintain a treasury eNaira wallet for holding and managing eNaira with the CBN. Two-factor authentication will be adopted to ensure the security of the eNaira wallet. Nairametrics |
| | EDITOR'S NOTE | A lot of the early signs, including the guidelines, indicate that the eNaira will be launched mostly with banks. As with a number of other points, it is currently unclear what role the fintech ecosystem will play with the incoming CBDC. The best guess at this point is that the guidelines will evolve as the eNaira is launched and use cases for partnering with fintechs become more apparent. You can check out the complete version of the eNaira guidelines here, and the official website of the eNaira. |
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| Kenya | How would Kenya deal with a 6-hour M-Pesa downtime? On the heels of the Facebook service outage on October 4, Francis Waithaka and other Twitter users speculate on the potential impact an extended service outage from M-Pesa could have on the Kenyan economy in this Twitter thread. Twitter |
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| Africa | How does money move in Africa? Justin Norman kicks off season 3 of The Flip Podcast with an exposé on how money moves in Africa. This episode provides listeners with an accessible explanation of concepts that drive money movement electronically. Did you know that "electronic transaction switching" is basically an act of routing transaction messages between different banks and not actual money movement? Listen to the details and more here. The Flip Podcast |
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| Nigeria | Klasha, a cross-border fintech startup, raises $2.4 million The startup enables international businesses to accept payments online in local African countries and allows customers generate virtual currency cards to shop from international retailers. This seed fund will be used to scale its infrastructure across Africa. The investment round was led by Greycroft with participation from Seedcamp, AVG Basecamp fund, and other investors. Klasha Blog |
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| Egypt | Egyptian startup, Amenli raises $2.3 million seed round The Y-Combinator backed startup provides insurance policies to Egyptians, and currently issues 500 insurance policies. The funds will be used to form partnerships and scale its insurance operations across Egypt. The raise was co-led by Global Founders Capital, P1 Ventures, Anim Fund, and other participants. TechCrunch |
| | EDITOR'S NOTE | As we reported in Issue 101, there's an opportunity for African digital insurance platforms to improve existing processes and drive market penetration. A report by McKinsey highlights increased access to digital insurance platforms as a potential key driver of growth in the African Insurance market. Insurtech startups such as Naked, Pineapple, and Lami have recently raised capital to accelerate growth and expand their product offerings across Africa. |
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| Cameroon | Ejara raises $2 million seed round Ejara provides a platform for Africans to access investment opportunities such as cryptocurrency and fractional shares. Based in Cameroon, the company currently serves users in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, and Senegal. The company also caters to French-speaking Africans in Europe, Asia, and the U.S via a partnership with MoonPay, a crypto payment company. This seed investment will be used to launch new product features and expand its product and tech teams. CoinShares Ventures and Anthemis Group co-led this round, joined by other venture capitals and angel investors. TechCrunch |
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| Nigeria | Insurtech startup, Insurpass, secures funding for expansion The Nigerian-based startup provides an API service for companies to integrate insurance products into any web or mobile device. Insurtech secured undisclosed funding led by Tekedia Capital, to help it expand its product offerings and acquire customers excluded from insurance coverage in Nigeria. TechEconomy |
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| Africa | Bitmama raises $350k pre-seed The cryptocurrency startup enables users in Nigeria and Ghana to buy and sell crypto. The funds will be used to expand its product offerings into other African countries, grow its operational presence, and increase its team. The raise was led by San Francisco-based VC, Flori Ventures with participation from Nigeria-based VCs, Emergence Capital, and Fedha Capital. Techpoint |
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Share a tip | Do you have an announcement, event, or job posting you'd like to share, or have you come across an interesting bit of African fintech news recently? Hit reply and let me know! I might be able to include it in next week's newsletter. |
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