Stories of Tech Unicorns in Africa

Welcome to Lucidity Insights' second episode in this three-part podcast series, where we take a look at the Future of Fintech in Africa. But in order to look forward, we need to look at which African startups have already been successful. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of unicorns in Africa are fintechs. We cover the unicorn stories of Interswitch from Nigeria, Flutterwave from Nigeria/USA, Opay from Nigeria, Wave Mobile from Senegal, Andela from Nigeria/USA, Chipper from Ghana/USA, and MNT-Halan from Egypt. We also cover some very honourable mentions: Paystack from Nigeria, which got bought out by Stripe before reaching unicorn status; Fawry in Egypt who successfully IPO'd in 2019 and achieved a >$1 billion status in 2020; and Jumia, who is considered Africa's first unicorn, who also successfully IPOed in 2019.

In this Series

3 Episodes

Mentioned Startup & VC Profiles

MNT-Halan

MNT-Halan, a fintech ecosystem in Egypt, was formed through the acquisition of Halan by MNT Investment in June 2021. It offers various financial services, including Buy Now Pay Later, microfinance, and payments solutions that aims to bank the unbanked. Users can disburse, collect, and transfer money digitally through mobile applications.

Startup

Fawry

Fawry provides electronic payment solutions and digital to individuals and businesses that's available through a network of over 100,000 payment points.

Startup

Wave

Wave Mobile Money is building a cashless Africa in Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Gambia & Mali.

Startup

Interswitch

Interswitch is an integrated digital payments and commerce company designed to make payments an easy and enjoyable experience.

Startup

Opay

OPay is a company that enables users to accomplish more with their money by providing smart financial services.

Startup

Flutterwave

Flutterwave is a fintech company that provides payment solutions for businesses.

Startup

Chipper Cash

Chipper Cash is a fintech platform that offers mobile, cross-border money transfer services.

Startup

Andela

Andela specializes in connecting highly-skilled, global technology talent from emerging markets with leading companies like InVision, Cloudflare, and ViacomCBS, helping these companies scale their technology teams quickly and cost-effectively.

Startup

In this Series

3 Episodes

Related Report

The Future of Fintech in Africa

Eighteen percent of the world’s population lives in Africa, and 57% of Africans are ‘unbanked’, without a bank account or a digital wallet. This presents a massive opportunity, making fintech the most dominant and funded tech sector in Africa today. This special report highlights how African fintechs not only have one of the largest total addressable markets globally but are also crucial for achieving financial inclusion and empowering unbanked populations. The potential impact of a successful fintech in Africa is unparalleled. To learn more about the drivers, barriers, and opportunities in African fintech, as well as progress toward financial inclusion, read the special report.