Visa has announced the startups selected for its Africa Fintech Accelerator program’s second cohort. The initiative provides 12 weeks of mentorship and training for seed to Series A startups, offering opportunities for funding and resources. Aida Diarra, Visa’s Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighted that over 50% of African countries are represented in this cohort, with women in leadership roles in most of the selected startups.
Selected from 28 African countries, 65% of these startups feature female leadership, a significant increase from 43% in the inaugural edition. These startups operate in diverse sectors including neo-banking, merchant payments, credit scoring, risk and identity management, embedded finance, social commerce, and escrow services.
The 12-week virtual Accelerator program will conclude with an in-person Demo Day, where startups will pitch their innovations to key ecosystem players, funding partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists, enabling them to unlock their full potential.
The Accelerator program, launched in June 2023, is part of Visa’s ongoing efforts to enhance the digital economy in Africa. This includes a pledge to invest $1 billion in the continent by 2027 to revolutionize the payments ecosystem.
The first cohort graduated in February 2024 with an investor week in Nairobi, attracting over 250 attendees including banking and fintech partners, investors, and venture capital firms. Graduates of the first cohort have reported positive outcomes such as increased user growth, product enhancements, funding opportunities, and strategic partnerships with Visa and other industry players.
The startups shortlisted for the second cohort are:
- Chapa (Ethiopia) – Merchant Solutions
- CheckUps Medical Hub (Kenya) – Embedded Finance (Health)
- AzamPay (Tanzania) – B2B Marketplace
- Beem (Tanzania) – Social Commerce
- Bizao (Ivory Coast) – Merchant Payments Solution
- Hub2 (Ivory Coast) – Enabler Infrastructure
- Iwomi Technologies (Cameroon) – Money Movement
- Proboutik (Cameroon) – Merchant Payments Solution
- Vaultpay (Democratic Republic of Congo) – Merchant Payments Solution
- Aku (Nigeria) – Neo-banking
- Cleva (Nigeria) – Money Movement
- Curacel (Nigeria) – Insurance Management
- E-doc Online (Nigeria) – Open Banking
- Raenest (Nigeria) – Money Movement
- Bridgecard (Nigeria) – Enabler Infrastructure
- Truzo (South Africa) – Escrow Services
This second cohort reflects Visa’s commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship across Africa, particularly through supporting female leadership in the fintech sector.
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