Visa has announced the selection of 19 innovative startups from across the continent to participate in the third edition of its Africa Fintech Accelerator. This three-month programme is designed to provide mentorship, industry connections, and technological tools to help these ventures scale their financial solutions.
The Africa Fintech Accelerator aligns with Visa’s US$1 billion commitment to financial inclusion in Africa by 2027. Since its inception in 2023, the accelerator has supported 45 startups across two cohorts, resulting in 15 active partnerships. Notably, four startups from the first cohort recently secured strategic funding from Visa, showing the programme’s success in growing impactful ventures.
The current cohort of 19 startups will benefit from extensive resources, including technology credits, networking opportunities, and direct mentorship. They will also have the chance to showcase their solutions at a demo day, with the potential to receive strategic investments from Visa.
This year’s cohort represents a wide range of fintech solutions. Kenya has four representatives: Credable, a platform enabling businesses and financial institutions in the Middle East and Africa to offer digital banking services; Melanin Kapital, a neobank focusing on green loans and carbon credits; Umba, a digital microfinance service; and Zendawa, which provides embedded finance for neighbourhood pharmacies.
South Africa also boasts three startups: Block Markets Africa, which uses tokenisation to create open financial market infrastructure; Ordev, offering middleware solutions for retail and hospitality; and Sticitt, a payment solution simplifying school-related transactions.
From Nigeria, three ventures were chosen: Bumpa, a platform supporting digital commerce for small businesses; Kredete, a marketplace for digital lending; and NearPays, a full-service payment platform.
Egypt has two participants: Enza, which aids banks in engaging SMEs with mobile-first payment systems, and MoneyHash, a platform consolidating payment APIs for merchants.
The remaining startups include Fixa from Rwanda, Kacha from Ethiopia, Moneco from Algeria, WafR from Morocco, Jabu from Namibia, PaySika from Cameroon, and WeWire from Ghana, demonstrating the pan-African reach of the accelerator.
Empowering Africa’s Fintech Ecosystem
Visa’s Africa Fintech Accelerator continues to play a vital role in driving innovation and financial inclusion across the continent. The company how’s that by supporting startups with mentorship, resources, and strategic investments, they can not only helps these ventures thrive but also promote a more inclusive financial ecosystem for Africa.
