Some interesting news from African start up economy 2 from the start ups side ( One on Fund raising and one on secondary which is rarer in the African start up and hence more interesting !!! ) and one from the Funding side

1. South Africa ‘s Peach Payments raises 31 Mn US$
2. SA’s Fin acquires Thuthukani, integrates as home loan offering
3. Egypt’s Camel Ventures launches $16m fintech-focused fund

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South Africa ‘s Peach Payments raises 31 Mn US$

Digitizing the payment infrastructure  . 

• Peach payments aims to simplify the merchant acceptance ecosystem .

Business model

• Peach Payments is second largest online payment gateway in South Africa. It also has presence in Kenya and Mauritius.Peach provides a simplified toolkit enabling merchants to accept, manage and make payments via mobile and the web. Services offered include online payment acceptance, subscription solutions across a variety of payment types including cards, , digital wallets, mobile money, and also some BNPL services

Investor check.

·       The round is led by Apic Partners thru their Apis Growth Fund II

‍ It’s strategic!

• The funds will be used to expand Peach into other new countries in Africa.

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SA’s Fin acquires Thuthukani, integrates as home loan offering

About the acquirer

Fin (Called Finclusion Group earlier) was launched in mid-2018 by co-founders and co-CEOs Timothy Nuy and Tonderai Mutesva. Fin focusses on closing the credit gap that is common in Africa.

What is the acquisition about?

The acquisition of Thuthukani, continues Fin’s expansion into all relevant finance offerings for individuals and SMEs across its markets.

Thuthukani’s incremental housing finance offering will be renamed to Fin Home Loans and integrated into Fin’s South African portfolio. Fin Home Loans’ aim will remain to give middle-to-lower income Fin customers access to affordable finance.

It is strategic!

So this acquisition gives Fin more offerings to expand and increase its scale faster.

What it means for African fintech startups?

‍2022 saw an increase in Funding for African start ups esp FinTech’s but 2023 is expected to be tricky. The secondary sale is likely to be the most viable route for many of the start-ups as they struggle to raise capital. So, this may be encouraging overall for the Fintech economy.

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Egypt’s Camel Ventures launches $16m fintech-focused fund

Investor check! 

• Camel Ventures is backed by institutions in the fintech space and the financial services arena in Egypt –
  • dfin Holding (Egypt’s FinTech Platform for tech-based financial services startups and started ​The First FinTech Venture Studio in Egypt)
  • Al Ahly Capital Holding –   Established in 2008 as the Investment arm for the National Bank of Egypt (NBE). Established with the aim of generating superior returns through acquisition of influential stake across proprietary transactions.

Business model

·       Camel ventures is focused on financing Egypt’s growing fintech startup ecosystem.

·       The fund provides both equity investments for early-stage startups, as well as venture debt denominated in local currency for later-stage startups.

 What it means for startups?

Ideal for Egyptian fintech start ups if looking for an investor with  deep local knowledge, regulatory and business expertise, as well as, our global outreach and network to support them.