Five years ago, SpaceX launched Starlink, which has since grown into its biggest revenue driver, expanding to more than 100 countries. But as Starlink scaled, it faced a major hurdle: accepting payments in developing markets, where traditional banking infrastructure is unreliable, slow, and prone to blocking transactions. Many local banks across Africa, Latin America, and […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The newest generation of startups aiming to solve cross-border payments are focusing on stablecoins — cryptocurrency coins often pegged to actual currencies or other commodities to help them keep stable prices — to build solutions that work faster and often cheaper than classic financial rails. This trend is also driving a surge in investor interest […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Uber-backed Moove, an Africa-born mobility fintech that offers vehicle financing to ride-hailing and delivery app drivers across six continents, has acquired Kovi, a Brazilian urban mobility provider. The value of the deal is not being disclosed, but Moove confirmed it was an all-share transaction, and Kovi is now wholly owned by Moove. Moove co-founder and […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Until a few years ago, it used to be difficult to make payments across borders almost anywhere in the world. But it’s still a big problem in Africa, where fragmented, disconnected systems, high fees, and poor infrastructure make it tough for businesses and individuals to move money quickly and affordably. The majority of people and […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Visa has joined African fintech Moniepoint as a new investor. The business banking and payments platform confirmed to TechCrunch that it received a “strategic investment” from the global payments giant as both companies look to drive financial inclusion and support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa. Sources close to the deal […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

When merchants or companies launch online, they typically start by partnering with one or two payment processors. But as they grow and expand into new regions, they often need to onboard additional payment partners to meet different customer (and sometimes regulatory) needs, a process that comes with some hurdles.  That’s given rise to companies to […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

At a recent investor meeting, early-stage African investor Oui Capital informed limited partners that it had returned its $4 million debut fund following the sale of some shares in the business banking platform Moniepoint. The African fintech unicorn has so far proven to be a standout investment for five-year-old Oui Capital. When it launched its […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Global fashion brands are struggling with billions of dollars’ worth of unsold inventory. Mostly, these brands avoid reselling in core markets like the U.K. and the U.S. to prevent market cannibalization. Meanwhile, emerging markets like Africa heavily rely on secondhand clothing imports, but 30% to 40% of these items are deemed unusable upon arrival, leading to […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

For many emerging market economies, remittances have become a lifeline. Inflows surpassed $669 billion in 2023, according to World Bank research, and they now represent significant portions of GDP in these countries, often outpacing foreign direct investment as the primary source of foreign exchange.  Traditional banks and agents maintain a firm grip on the remittance […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Africa’s tech ecosystem just got a boost of attention, with South Africa’s TymeBank and Nigeria’s Moniepoint both raising funds in recent weeks at valuations of over $1 billion and joining the coveted unicorn pantheon. But those valuations don’t just reflect investor confidence. They signal the success they’ve had in taking disruptive fintech models originally developed […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Tyme Group, a South African fintech, has secured $250 million in a Series D round, pushing its valuation to $1.5 billion. The funding was led by Nu Holdings, which owns Latin America’s most valuable fintech NuBank, investing $150 million for a 10% stake. M&G Catalyst Fund invested $50 million, while existing shareholders provided the remaining […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Juicyway, an African fintech that leverages stablecoin technology to power fast and cheap cross-border payments, is launching out of stealth after processing over $1 billion in transaction volume for thousands of African businesses over the last three years. The fintech claims to have processed over 25,000 transactions, generating $1.3 billion in total payment volume (TPV) […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The influential accelerator Y Combinator made a splash in Africa in 2020 when it shined its light on the market and began to accept startups from the region into its cohorts. The move was huge: in this nascent market, startups especially rely on programs like these to find their feet and connect with investors, and […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Waymo is partnering with Moove, an African mobility fintech that offers vehicle financing to gig workers, to handle fleet management operations for its robotaxi service in Phoenix and, soon, Miami.  The partnership marks several firsts. It will signal Waymo’s entry into Miami. And it’s also the first time Moove will enter the U.S. market and […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

A fintech from Ivory Coast — part of one of the most economically challenged and financially fragmented regions in the world — has raised funding for an ambitious goal: to become the “Stripe for Francophone Africa.” HUB2, as the startup is called, already works with some 55 neobanks, payment companies, remittance companies and cryptocurrency providers, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Former NBA athlete Omri Casspi has raised $60 million for his latest venture fund, Swish Ventures, which will invest in early-stage cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI startups. The fund plans to back 10 companies, and will invest $5 million to $7 million per deal. Swish Ventures is Casspi’s second fund following the launch of Sheva […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

An African fintech that has grown on the strength of a 30,000-strong team of direct salespeople is moving into profit country by sub-Saharan country. Now, M-KOPA, the pay-as-you-go asset financing platform serving 5 million underbanked Africans, is racing toward a major milestone: surpassing an annual revenue rate of $400 million by year-end. The London-headquartered fintech […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Helping consumers find the perfect glasses is a booming global business, spawning giants like Warby Parker in the U.S. and Lenskart in India. In the Middle East, this market is producing its own rising powerhouse: Eyewa. Eyewa, based in Dubai and Riyadh, sells a wide range of eyewear products, including prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.