Afridigest

Amazon built a $1 trillion empire with this one hack: It turned its cost centers into revenue streams. Most famously, it transformed its tech infrastructure costs into Amazon Web Services (AWS), a B2B cloud computing platform that now generates over $80 billion in revenue annually. And tech companies across Africa are increasingly using the same playbook. Here are three examples: ❶ South African video entertainment platform MultiChoice Group launched a new payments platform, not just to power its own payments, but to tap into a fast-growing payment processing revenue pool for the estimated ~44M SMEs operating across the African continent. ❷ Pan-African cross-border payments company Chipper Cash built an in-house solution to verify the identity of its customers. And it opened it up to all businesses that need digital KYC solutions across Africa. ❸ Nigerian mobile payment platform Paga Group Ltd spends a lot of resources building & maintaining robust payments infrastructure for its core business. Inspired by AWS, it opened it up to developers via API in 2021. For more on how companies in Africa are transforming cost centers into cash, read this article from Afridigest 👉🏽 https://lnkd.in/dvJ6kgnU __________________ 🚨 Afridigest is your intelligent guide to tech and modern business in #Africa. Subscribe to the newsletter today: afridigest.com/subscribe.

Africa is now home to 8 tech unicorns: • Interswitch Group • Flutterwave • OPay • Wave Mobile Money • Andela • Chipper Cash • MNT-Halan • Moniepoint Group At least according to last publicly disclosed valuations. Notably, the vast majority of unicorns in Africa were minted during the '21-'22 global funding boom. But Moniepoint, the Nigerian business & personal banking platform, joined the herd last week in the thick of the ongoing global funding drought. Achieving a billion dollar valuation is an impressive feat anywhere at anytime. But achieving a billion dollar valuation in Nigeria where the value of the local currency has plummeted and in the current market environment where capital is scarce is iconic. Read more about Africa's unicorn club here: https://lnkd.in/dmZThtbV — the Moniepoint update is coming soon. 💡Do you think Africa's likely to see another unicorn anytime soon? If so, who's on your 'soonicorn' list? __________________ 🚨 Afridigest is your intelligent guide to tech and modern business in #Africa. Subscribe to the newsletter today: afridigest.com/subscribe.

🚨 Attention founders of Africa-focused businesses: The Financial Times and Statista are looking for the fastest growing companies on the continent to feature on their 'Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies 2025' list. 📌 Companies selected will be profiled in a Financial Times special report and listed on FT.com in May 2025. 🗓️ Deadline to apply is January 31, 2025. 🌐 Read more: https://lnkd.in/dc-VX2Cr 📝 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/d4hSw24i __________________ 🚨 Afridigest is your intelligent guide to modern #business in #Africa. Subscribe to the newsletter today: afridigest.com/subscribe.

African startups disrupt nothing. They might wear the disguise of disruption, but there often simply isn’t anything to "disrupt." Read more from Abraham Augustine in this article: https://lnkd.in/dFJipv-R __________________ 🚨 Afridigest is your intelligent guide to #tech and modern business in #Africa. Subscribe to the newsletter today: afridigest.com/subscribe.

Online savings and investment platforms have proliferated across Africa. But can wealth management apps thrive where wealth is scarce? 💡 Consider the case of Nigeria. It now costs ~1700 naira to buy $1, more than double the ~₦730/$1 it cost in January 2023. And as the naira depreciates, relative wealth in the country plummets and the costs of buying US stocks increases. So activity on investment apps whose core value proposition is providing Nigerians with access to US securities goes down. 📉 One such app is Bamboo, and it offers a good case study of how apps in the space are rushing to diversify past their core model of providing access to US markets: • In May, Bamboo launched local Nigerian stocks, allowing Nigerians to buy equities on Nigeria's NGX exchange. • And just yesterday, the company announced the launch of a remittance payment service, Coins by Bamboo, that enables money transfers from Canada to Nigeria. It's a good example of how companies are adapting to local market challenges through diversification. In addition to business line diversification, however, another thing to look out for in the sector is increased consolidation. Over the last 13 months, for example, Nigerian managed investing platform Rise acquired both Nigeria's Chaka.com and Kenya's Invest with Hisa. Watch this space. And in the meantime, let us know how you see wealthtech evolving across African markets in the comments below 👇🏽 __________________ 🚨 For in-depth Africa-focused analysis, ideas, and insights, subscribe to Afridigest — your intelligent guide to modern #business in #Africa: afridigest.com/subscribe.

Startup mythology is full of stories about companies that find success after a dramatic, extreme pivot. But the reality is most startups find product-market fit by experimenting with tons of 'micro-pivots' — driven by founders who are constantly iterating and learning. What are your favorite examples of pivots or micro-pivots in African tech? 💡 Let us know in the comments below. 👇🏽 __________________ 🚨 For ideas and insights on #business with a focus on #Africa, subscribe to Afridigest: afridigest.com/subscribe.

There's a new unicorn in African tech. 🦄 Despite the slowdown in fundraising for startups across the continent, Nigerian business & personal banking platform Moniepoint Group today announced raising $110 million in a Series C round that values the company at over $1 billion. The round was led by London-based private equity firm Development Partners International (DPI), with participation from Google’s Africa Investment Fund, Nigerian private equity firm Verod, and global investment firm Lightrock. Moniepoint says it processes over $17 billion worth of transactions every month today, up over 2x from its total payment volume in 2023. While the firm currently generates the vast majority of its business from Nigeria, it will use the funds raised to accelerate its growth across Africa and other markets. As CEO Tosin Eniolorunda told Afridigest in September last year, "We're more or less focused on a world TAM [total addressable market]... We already have Nigeria. After this is the rest of the world for us... Our next lever for growth is geography." If you haven’t been following closely, now's a good time to get up to speed on the juggernaut that is Moniepoint. Watch the conversation between Eniolorunda and Afridigest publisher Emeka Ajene on YouTube here: https://lnkd.in/d9qnqRqg. __________________ 🚨 For in-depth Africa-focused analysis, ideas, and insights, subscribe to Afridigest — your intelligent guide to modern #business in #Africa: afridigest.com/subscribe.

Here's an 80/20 principle for founders: A good chunk of things that consume your time, energy, and mental bandwidth don't matter much at the end of the day. 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟴𝟬% 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗹𝗲 — the rest is just noise. 💡 Agree or disagree? __________________ 🚨 For more insights, subscribe to Afridigest — your intelligent guide to modern #business in #Africa: afridigest.com/subscribe.

🚨 Attention founders of Africa-focused startups: Bloomberg News is looking for the continent's most innovative startups to be featured on their inaugural Africa Startups to Watch list. 📌 Startups selected will be profiled on Bloomberg TV & other platforms in Q1 2025. 🗓️ Deadline to apply is November 8. 🌐 Read more: https://lnkd.in/eigxpvmU 📝 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/dV_5eEef __________________ 🚨 Afridigest is your intelligent guide to modern #business in #Africa. Subscribe to the newsletter today: afridigest.com/subscribe.

📢 𝗠&𝗔 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵. 𝗔𝗿𝗲 '𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲' 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘂𝗰𝗲? There's a growing — yet underappreciated — trend to watch in Africa's tech sector: the involvement of 'dual-stake' investors in M&A deals. These investors own shares of both the acquiring and target companies. So they often have deep insights into the operations and strategies of both businesses, allowing them to identify synergies that others might miss. At the same time, they can leverage their relationships with both parties to build trust, align interests, and streamline negotiations, potentially leading to more favorable deal terms. Here are some recent examples of dual-stake investor involvement in Africa Tech M&A: • Ventures Platform Fund played a leading role in facilitating the acquisition of SME-focused payments platform Traction Apps by B2B e-commerce platform OmniRetail Technology Limited. Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku, Managing Partner at Ventures Platform, commented, "We believe in leveraging the strengths of our portfolio companies to create more robust solutions." • 4DX Ventures was rumored to have been the driving force between the merger of B2B e-commerce juggernauts Wasoko & MaxAB when news of the deal first became public. After it was finalized, the firm confirmed that it was "intimately involved in this merger process." • simple.Capital played a crucial role in the acquisition of FlexClub’s Mexico subsidiary by Ugandan vehicle financing platform Asaak. Blake Musgrove, Partner and CIO at simple.Capital, noted, "As active investors in both Asaak and FlexClub, we spotted an opportunity to procure [this] acquisition." What’s your take on the rise of dual-stake investors on the M&A scene — a boost for Africa's tech landscape, or are there risks we need to consider more carefully? __________________ 🚨 For more in-depth analysis on trends like this, subscribe to Afridigest — your intelligent guide to modern #business in #Africa: afridigest.com/subscribe.