Weekly update #78

Welcome to this edition of the weekly newsletter. The idea behind this is to gather all the information in the startup ecosystem in one place, with a special focus on the fintech market and the VC industry.

The latest episode of Builders has been released this week. In this episode, I sit down with Alexander Emeshev , Ceo and founder of Vivid Money.

You can find the full episode here on YouTube, or you can listen to it here on Spotify or here on Apple Podcast. In the meanwhile, take a look at this short clip here:

Before founding Vivid, Alexander led the digital transformation of several major banks. As Executive Director at Kaspi Bank , he spearheaded business expansion and digital strategy. At Tinkoff Bank, he played a key role in scaling digital products, shaping the future of fintech, setting the foundation for his work with Vivid.

Under his leadership, Vivid evolved from a B2C fintech into a top European business bank, bringing the speed, simplicity, and affordability of retail banking to SMEs. Today, Vivid provides an integrated financial platform with competitive pricing, treasury management, and seamless connectivity between private and business banking. Backed by Greenoaks Capital and DST Global, Vivid is among Germany’s top three business banks, shaping the future of SME banking in Europe.

Coming back to us, I’ve been reading a very interesting report this week: “Redefining success: A new playbook for African fintech leaders” by McKinsey & Company . In the report, the popular strategy consulting company makes a very interesting study on the actual status of the fintech market in Africa, highlighting growth drivers, main trends and sustainable path to success. Here my main takeaways:

Africa's fintech sector is evolving. After a period of accelerated growth and investment—especially between 2020 and 2021, when the number of tech startups tripled and fintechs made up nearly half—investor sentiment has shifted toward greater selectivity. However, long-term growth prospects remain strong. From 2018 to 2023, the financial services industry, including both traditional institutions and fintechs, grew at an average annual rate of 8%, with expectations of nearly 10% annual growth through 2028. The total addressable market is projected to reach $312 billion by then, largely driven by merchant payments, remittances, and lending.

Despite current fintech penetration in Africa being relatively low—around 5 to 6 percent—markets like Kenya demonstrate the continent’s potential, with adoption as high as 15 percent. If this benchmark becomes widespread, Africa’s fintech market could grow fivefold, reaching up to $47 billion by 2028 from $10 billion in 2023.

Since 2021, fintech funding in Africa has declined significantly, mainly due to a sharp drop in equity investment. Between 2022 and 2023, funding fell by 37%, and the trend persisted into 2024, with the first half of the year seeing a 51% decrease compared to the same period in 2023—falling from $864 million to $419 million. In contrast, debt financing surged, growing at a 182% CAGR from 2022 to 2023, suggesting increasing investor confidence in more mature fintechs.

This decline in equity is largely tied to a broader global downturn in investment. However, African-based investors are becoming more prominent, with their share of total funding rising from 14% in 2021 to 20% in 2023. Regionally, funding dynamics have shifted: while Kenya's fintech share remained stable, Nigeria experienced a steep drop from 81% to 14%. Conversely, South Africa and Egypt saw significant increases, with fintech funding shares rising from 6% to 30%, and from 1% to 46%, respectively.

Despite a more cautious investment climate, recent deals highlight that African fintechs with clear paths to sustainability, solid unit economics, and products that address real market needs continue to attract capital. In April 2024, Moove—a mobility-focused fintech—raised $100 million in funding led by Uber to support its market expansion. Similarly, Nala, a remittance startup targeting African corridors, secured $40 million in equity in one of the continent’s largest Series A rounds.

This shift reflects a broader investor pivot from pure growth to long-term sustainability. As the sector matures, funding is increasingly directed toward more developed verticals like SME and consumer lending, merchant services, and cross-border payments, which accounted for approximately 70% of total investment in 2022 and 2023. In contrast, previously high-profile segments such as wallets and blockchain-related ventures saw a steep decline in investment by 2023.

While established fintech markets in Africa continue to evolve, frontier markets such as Angola, Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia are emerging as promising new growth areas. Rising GDP per capita, improved regulatory environments, and expanding internet access are setting the stage for increased fintech activity in these countries.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, developments like Mastercard’s e-commerce initiatives and the expansion of financial institutions such as Equity Bank and KCB are enhancing financial inclusion and digital finance adoption. Algeria, with one of the highest internet penetration rates in Africa at 73%, has recently introduced regulatory reforms that open the payments space to non-bank players, creating room for innovation and competition.

Meanwhile, Angola is experiencing a wave of fintech-friendly regulatory and infrastructure initiatives. Partnerships such as the collaboration between Africell and USAID aim to expand access to financial services, particularly among women and rural communities, highlighting the country’s potential for accelerated fintech growth.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Revolut revealed 2024 results, with a staggering $1.4 billion in profit. Banorte acquired RappiCard for $50 million, while Circle and BitGo applied for a US banking license. bithumb official officially splits in two entities ahead of the upcoming IPO, and Flex acquired Maza for $40 million. In the VC market, Equitage Ventures closed a $47.5 million fund, and Italian early stage VC P101 closed a $250 million fund. But also Vocap Partners , KOMPAS VC and First Momentum Capital. And finally, some very interesting funding rounds from fintech startups like TaxDown, Froda, Salsa, WeMoney, Alpaca, Hokodo, Bloom Credit and many others.

But let's take a closer look at the main news of the last seven days.

Closed deals

• British startup Portia AI secures €5.1 million to help developers build AI agents in production
• Madrid based fintech TaxDown raises $4 to scale its AI solution to Latin America
• Capably raises $4 million for its agentic business automation platform
• Froda secures a €20 million round to scale embedded SMEs finance across Europe
• Salsa secures $20 million for its embedded payroll solution
• Mastercard joins australian fintech WeMoney $12 million series A
• Cantor Fitzgerald is near to close a $3 billion crypto venture with SoftBank Investment Advisers and Tether.io
• Dutch fintech CarePay International secures a €5 million round to innovate health insurance platforms
• San Mateo based fintech API provider Alpaca closes a $52 million series C
• London based fintech Hokodo closes a €10 million round
• Bloom Credit secures a $10.5 million to boost its reporting and credit data infrastructure
• FundThrough acquires Ampla and secures a $25 million series B
• Altruist closes a $152 million Series F to innovate growth-oriented IRAs
• Alternative Payments raises a $22 million for its B2B payment platform for underserved industries
• BitradeX closes a $15.9 million series A led by Bain Capital
• Mongolia first digital lending fintech LendMN NBFI JSC secures a $20 million round

Insights on the VC industry

• Equitage Ventures closes its first fund at $43.7 million
• Astra fintech launches a $100 million Solana Foundation eco focused fund
• Italian early stage VC P101 closes a $250 million fund
• Atlanta based VC Vocap Partners closes a $100 million IV fund
• European crypto firm RockawayX closes a $125 million fund to invest in blockchain startup in Europe

News on the market

• Former Y Combinator president Geoff Ralston launches an "AI safety" fund
• Fintech startup Ramp is trying to get the US government as customer following a DOGE message
• Indian fintech Razorpay becomes a public company before the upcoming IPO
• Banorte acquires Rappi in a $50 million deal
• Circle and BitGo are about to apply for a US banking license reports the The Wall Street Journal
• Techstars will increase startup funding to $220k to mirror Y Combinator structure
• Fuze secures a UAE central banking license to power the next generation of cross borders payments in MENA
• Walmart backed fintech PhonePe becomes public ahead of the long awaited IPO
• South Korean exchange bithumb official will split in two entities as it prepares for the IPO
• Revolut just released its 2024 results, showing a crazy $1.4 billion in profit
• Octopus Ventures is set to take over FinTech Growth Fund
• Fiserv has agreed to acquire brasilian fintech Money Money Invest to provide working capital to SMEs
• Spendesk partners with Dust to give employees tailored and datas compliant AI solutions
• Flex acquires a16z backed fintech Maza for $40 million

A special look in the Italian market

• BANCOMAT lands on Google Pay

And here some useful resources for everyone involved in the ecosystem:

Events you don’t want to miss

• EU startup summit | 24-25.04.2025 (Link to the event)

You have a cool event you want to mention or to sponsor? Feel free to send me a DM.

Startups raising funds

• Loyyal - Loyalty platform from the MENA region, with entities in the US and South East Asia, provides a B2B2C platform to handle multiple loyalty programs and earn rewards all over the world. Raising a $6M Series A
• Freedhome - Proptech and fintech platform, enabling people to be able to gain profit from real estate by renting them to intermediaries. Raising a $1M seed round

• Tutornow - Edtech that provides an online tutoring platform for students with learning disorders. Raising $500k to $1M.
• Weagle - B2B Tech startup that provides the very first browser designed for company, with total security for sensitive data. Raising $6 millions for their seed round.

• Shoppy Code:Gift card platform that offers a points based loyalty program. They share part of the profits coming from marketing budgets with their customers. Raising $500k.

Take also a look at the last edition of the newsletter, Weekly update #77