All our stories, in order, Dakar time (GMT).
Friday 23 October
For the first time, the central bank of eight West African countries is inviting banks, financial institutions and fintechs to test their products under its supervision. Who can apply, how, and what is still unclear.
Friday 9 October
Founded in 2024, NeoFleet Capital doesn’t lend to drivers but to the people who run fleets. It has just closed a $4 million first round and wants to grow from 650 to 5,000 vehicles by the end of 2027.
Six years after putting its first 76 cars on Lagos roads, the mobility unicorn is shutting its Nigerian business and leaving drivers vehicles valued at ₦35 billion. A generous gesture, and an admission that a model built on a single partner, Uber, no longer worked.
Solar power, electric motorbikes, online payments: African startups raised $260.3 million in September. That is twice as much as a year earlier, but 85% of it went to ten companies. Senegal got just $1.3 million.
Wednesday 7 October
The Dakar-based refurbisher of professional printers has secured $1.36 million from Saviu Ventures and its own managers. It is a first for this Francophone Africa-focused fund, which is backing an industrial business rather than an app, with Côte d’Ivoire next in its sights.
Monday 28 September
In three London cafés, Revolut customers can pay without a card or phone, just by looking at the terminal’s camera. A showcase for the neobank’s strategy of controlling the entire payment chain.
The trackers disagree, the trend does not: the money came back earlier than in 2024, driven by a few very large rounds. Behind the record figure, the number of start-ups funded and of active investors is falling.
Sunday 27 September
Luno buys Kenya’s GTXN, Yellow Card raises $40 million, Onafriq settles in USDC across more than 40 countries. Dollar-backed cryptocurrencies are becoming payment infrastructure, while regulators are still writing the rules.
Three billion transactions, some twenty countries, around fifty connected operators: the company that links merchants to mobile wallets has been authorised by the Central Bank of Kenya, the continent’s most mature market.
Saturday 26 September
Savings at 7%, investments of up to 16%, loans from 500 to one million shillings, chamas and accounts at other banks in one app, accessible with just an ID card. Absa Kenya wants to win over a generation that no longer walks into branches.
Friday 25 September
Moniepoint is distributing the Dangote refinery’s IPO through its network of payment terminals, in all 774 local government areas of the country. Subscriptions start at 10 shares.
Thursday 24 September
Kenya’s main independent payment switch now lets banks issue their own cards, physical or virtual, on a local network.
The Bank of Algeria has authorised the subsidiary Djezzy Payment Services to set up as a payment service provider. A first for a telecom operator in the country, made possible by the 2023 banking law. The final licence has yet to be obtained.
Tuesday 22 September
The draft National Payment System Bill sets minimum capital by activity. Young fintechs are the most affected; a regulatory sandbox is planned for testing without a licence.
Backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala and the EBRD, the Cairo payments company has tripled its revenue in 18 months. Its growth now comes mainly from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, in a funding market in clear decline.
Tuesday 15 September
The digital minister, Samba Diouf, met Wave’s teams on 10 September. Transport, health, the Treasury: the goal is to pay for and collect more public services through mobile money.
Thursday 16 July
About $1.4 billion raised in the first half of 2026, as a year earlier, but in 146 rounds against 252. The money is concentrating on a few established companies, and acquisitions are doubling.