- Visa has announced the 20 startups that will make up the second cohort of its Africa Fintech Accelerator.
- The biannual program offers 12 weeks of one-on-one mentorship and personalised training for providing seed to series A startups.
- Nigeria has the most presence among the 20 startups, with six fintechs selected for the second cohort.
In June last year Visa announced the launch of its Africa Fintech Accelerator program, with the biannual initiative aiming to identify and assist promising fintech-focused startups on the Africa continent.
With the first cohort having gone through the program, now Visa is getting ready for the second cohort, confirming the 20 startups that will be taking part.
“As part of Visa’s work to unlock financial innovation across the continent, the biannual program offers 12 weeks of 1:1 mentorship and personalized training, providing seed to series A startups with exclusive opportunities to access funding, development, and resources,” the company explained in a release shared with Hypertext.
“Cohort 2 startups operate across 28 African countries, a 55% increase from Cohort 1 where the representatives operated across 18 countries. 65% of them feature female leadership, rising from 43% in the inaugural edition,” it added regarding this latest group.
In terms of the different aspects of fintech that the startups focus on, Visa pointed out that they come from neo-banking, merchant payments, credit scoring, risk and identity management, embedded finance, social commerce, and escrow services.
While their expertise differs, all of the startups chosen aim to address the challenges of financial inclusion, access to credit, cross-border payments, and digital transformation, that exist on the continent.
“Today, we are proud to say that our second cohort of Accelerator participants represents more than 50% of countries across Africa, up from a third during our first cohort. Not only that–but women are in leadership roles across the majority of these cutting-edge startups. We have a robust, diverse selection of innovators seeking to shape the future of commerce and finance – and Visa is happy to help them take the next step to where they need to be,” enthused Aida Diarra, VP and head of Sub-Saharan Africa at Visa.
Looking closer at the startups chosen for this second cohort, Nigeria has the biggest representation, with six startups involved. Unfortunately only one from South Africa has been selected, but hopefully that number will pick up with future cohorts.
The full list of 20 startups, their sector, as well as their country of origin, are as follows:
- CheckUps Medical Hub – Kenya – Embedded Finance (Health)
- AzamPay – Tanzania – B2B Marketplace
- Beem – Tanzania – Social Commerce
- Bizao – Ivory Coast – Merchant Payments Solution
- Hub2 – Ivory Coast – Enabler Infrastructure
- Iwomi Technologies – Cameroon – Money Movement
- Proboutik – Cameroon – Merchant Payments Solution
- Vaultpay – Democratic Republic of Congo – Merchant Payments Solution
- Aku – Nigeria – Neo-banking
- Cleva – Nigeria – Money Movement
- Curacel – Nigeria – Insurance Management
- E-doc Online – Nigeria – Open Banking
- Raenest – Nigeria – Money Movement
- Bridgecard – Nigeria – Enabler Infrastructure
- Truzo – South Africa – Escrow Services
- Chapa – Ethiopia – Merchant Solutions
[Image – Provided]
