Y Combinator’s summer (S22) batch is notably different to its previous ones. Firstly, this batch kicked off with an in-person event – the first since the winter 2020 batch. Secondly, the summer cohort includes 240 companies, significantly fewer than the 414 companies in the winter 2022 cohort. And third, only eight startups in Africa got into the accelerator this summer compared to 24 from the previous batch, representing a 60% reduction. While the region represented about 6% of the entire winter batch, it’s 3% for this batch. When YC went
Nigeria-based fintech startup, Anchor has received over $1M in investment to help expand its workforce and services. The startup fund program is backed by fund program, Y Combinator, and other venture capital firms, including Byld Ventures, Luno Expeditions, Niche Capital, Mountain Peak Capital, and angel investors such as the founder of SeamlessHR, Emmanuel Okeleji. Co-founded in 2021 by Segun Adeyemi, Olamide Sobowale, and Gbekeloluwa Olufotebi, the banking-as-a-service platform, allows consumers to embed accounts, cards, payments, lending, and other financial features to their products within minutes. “We’re now seeing a new development where businesses want to
Black-owned real estate tech startup, Rhove, has announced its new partnership with housing changemakers in New Orleans to promote economic inclusion. The partnership, which includes Forward Together New Orleans, The Mayor’s Fund, and The Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA), will provide a grant to fund credit to help 2,000 residents invest in commercial real estate using the Rhove app. Rhove, founded by Calvin Cooper, is a fintech company designed to empower everyone to invest in and own real estate. The company, located in Ohio, is on a mission to
Black-owned fintech startup, Guava, has closed a pre-seed funding round of $2.4 million. The funding round, which Heron Rock led, also included investment firm Ruthless for Good Fund, Precursor Ventures, Backstage Capital, and angel investors Lexi Reese and Ed Zimmerman. Guava, founded in 2021 by Kelly Ifill, helps Black-owned businesses bank and build community. The banking and networking platform works to close the racial wealth gap by aiding small Black companies and creators with the tools needed to scale and grow their businesses. The digital platform, which is yet to
San Francisco-based fintech company, TomoCredit, has raised $122 million in funding and debt financing. The funding round was led by Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund and included Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund, MasterCard, and debt from Silicon Valley Bank. The funding will help the platform expand its credit product offerings to help support immigrants with no credit history in the US. TomoCredit, co-founded in 2018 by Kristy Kim and Dmitry Kashlev, is a fintech platform dedicated to providing the next generation with a credit card designed to help millennials boost
Bizao has raised $8.15 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by AfricInvest, Adelie, and Seedstars Africa Ventures and will help the platform accelerate its expansion, helping them provide services to citizens across the continent. Bizao, founded in 2019 by Aurélien Duval-Delort, helps companies accept all local payment methods across Africa. The tech platform uses powerful APIs and advanced financial flows to simplify the challenge of getting Mobile Money, Visa/Mastercard, and Airtime payments. The outlet powers all businesses: local retailers, online merchants, international digital content providers, money
Black-owned money movement, Zazuu, has raised $2 million in investment funding in a new venture round. The startup, which works to build a more robust remittance for residents in the diaspora, has quickly evolved to become the world’s first cross-border payment marketplace. Zazuu, co-founded in 2018 by Kay Akinwunmi, Korede Fanilola, Tola Alade, and Tosin Ekolie, is on a mission to ease the difficulty of sending money back home, which is currently expensive, slow, and unfair to millions of migrant customers. The platform has helped empower customers by building an
From financial impropriety and conflict of interest to operating without a license, Nigerian fintech company Flutterwave is no stranger to allegations. Most recently, the Kenyan High Court officially granted the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) permission to freeze over $50 million in 52 accounts belonging to the fintech giant following allegations of money laundering in Kenya. According to local media reports, the ARA believes that the platform “concealed” the nature of its business by providing a payment service payment without approval from the Central Bank of Kenya. The assets recovery agency claims the accounts
Senegal-based fintech startup, Wave, raises a syndicated loan of $91.5 million from International Finance Corporation (IFC), Blue Orchard, Symbiotics, responsAbility, and Lendable. Wave Mobile Money, founded by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk in 2018, has quickly grown to become the largest mobile money remittance in Senegal. In 2021, the company closed the most extensive Series A round for an African fintech at $200 million. The digital fintech platform uses technology to build a radically inclusive and affordable financial network. As a result, Wave has built a life-changing economic infrastructure for
Earlier this year, on February 13th, Sporting Lagos FC played its first-ever football match, which ended in a draw. The club, which currently plays in the Nigerian National League, the country’s second tier, is the brainchild of Shola Akinlade, co-founder and CEO of financial technology company Paystack, which he says was acquired for more than $200 million in 2020 by Irish American financial services company Stripe. Akinlade says he intends for Sporting Lagos to be a platform for community development and social change. But managing a football club in Nigeria is often
