Investor Alert: Nigerian fintech Syndicate raises $500k in pre-seed funding

Nigerian fintech startup Syarpa raises $500k pre-seed

Highlights

• Nigerian fintech startup Syarpa has closed a $500,000 pre-seed round of funding to help it expand across Europe and Africa.
• Syarpa enables users to carry out both international money transfers and crypto exchanges by providing fiat and crypto payment solutions. It has over 2,000 users and has facilitated transactions worth over $4 million since its launch.
• The startup is now planning expansion across Europe and Africa after its pre-seed round led by CrossFund and FirstFounders and also featuring Yolo Investments and a strategic angel investor. 

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

Africa is one of the most expensive regions to send money to and out from. Although most of the traditional players that charge high commission rates still dominate the space, a number of digital-first fintech platforms like Syarpa, Chipper Cash, Dash, and MFS Africa have sprung up in recent years providing cross-border money transfer services at lower rates to Africans.

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Unicorn Group launches pan-African incubation program

Highlights

• Pan-African investment firm Unicorn Group has launched its fourth incubation program for entrepreneurs, which for the first time is open to startups from a host of countries.
• The program offers a range of benefits, such as business advisory services, access to industry experts and mentors, management and leadership training, interactive workspaces, networking, and venture capital financing.
• It will run concurrently across six African countries – Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, and Egypt. Selected companies will be incubated in the Group’s facilities, while those from neighboring countries can participate remotely following justification and prequalification.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Unicorn Group targets innovative ideas, startups, and early-stage companies in the technology and technology-enabled sectors across Africa; that have the potential to emerge as unicorns. Having incubated over 60 entrepreneurs on the continent, the Group is one of the leading players addressing the challenges faced by entrepreneurs, startups, and early-stage companies on the continent.

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Senegalese unicorn Wave gets e-money license in the WAEMU region

Highlights

• Wave, a Senegal-based fintech unicorn, has received an e-money license from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), which serves 8 francophone West African countries—Benin, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo—that form the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).
• Since its inception in 2018, Wave has had to rely on third-party banks like the United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Ecobank to power its mobile money business model. 
• With this e-money license, the Sequoia- and Y Combinator-backed company can now independently and directly offer its current suite of financial products to customers without the support of third-party banks. 

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

Wave reached unicorn status last September after closing a $200 million Series A funding round. The startup offers free bill payments, cash-in, and cash-out, and charges only a 1% fee on money transfers, about 70% cheaper than what its competitors offer. The license enables Wave to offer a wider variety of financial services like merchant payments, savings, credit, and remittances, and more importantly, signifies that francophone Africa, known for its regulatory conservativeness, is becoming more friendly to innovative fintech startups.