Expansion moves are part of the usual expectations for startups that raise millions of dollars to grow quickly and produce returns for their backers. Fintech continues to attract the majority of investor capital in Africa, taking up a third of fundraising totals so far this year, according to deals tracker Africa: The Big Deal.
The number of African fintech companies tripled between 2020 and 2024, according to the European Investment Bank. Unsolved problems around access to financial services abound in Africa, creating a massive opportunity for players that can rise to the top.
“The scale of the potential is still so large,” said Mayowa Kuyoro, a McKinsey partner. Beyond bank accounts, African consumers have a far smaller range of financial products than people in developed countries, “so until the average person on the street has access to the financial system locally and internationally, African fintech cannot be seen as a crowded market,” she said.
Kola Aina, founding partner at Nigerian firm Ventures Platform that has backed a number of fintech companies, sees interesting opportunities in enabling intra-Africa trade and intra-Africa flows. The firm has raised $64 million so far for a new investment fund, targeting startups whose business models are fundamentally profitable in the near and short term. For startups in fintech and other sectors it hopes to back, “venture scale is really important,” he said, pointing to the need for startups to play in markets big enough to justify investor interest.