Fintech Summit is tomorrow 💃

Konnichiwa,

Hurray!! Fintech Summit by Techpoint Africa is tomorrow. 🤗 Who’s excited? Are you? Guys, I’m really excited. 🤗

You should not miss this event because it is for you. I mean, no matter who you are or what you do, fintech affects everything. Or do you not agree?

Well, I know you know this. So, does this mean I’ll see you tomorrow?

You will not only learn from experts at the event, but you will also network with people. I assure you that this is not something you should pass up.

So join us tomorrow, Saturday 26 November 2022, at 08:00 WAT at Four Points by Sheraton, Victoria Island Lagos. I look forward to meeting you. 🤗🤗

Have a fun weekend, folks!

Here’s what I have for you today:

• Pivo’s $2 million seed
• Djamo’s $14 million funding
• ARA unlocks Kandon technology’s accounts
• Acorn TV is closing down in South Africa

Pivo’s $2 million seed

Nigerian fintech startup Pivo has closed a $2 million seed round to upgrade existing and develop new products to improve supply chain transaction management and payment reconciliation.

Precursor Ventures, Vested World, Y Combinator, FoundersX and Mercy Corp Ventures participated in the round.

Nkiru Amadi-Emina (CEO) and Ijeoma Akwiwu (COO) founded the company in July 2021 to provide financial services to SMEs in Africa’s supply chain sector.

The decision to focus on businesses in the supply chain sector comes from the founders’ expertise working in the industry and an understanding that it is a supply chain segment to most sectors of the African economy.

Pivo started with three main products. Pivo Capital, its flagship product, provides small and medium-sized businesses with up to $50,000 in loans.

Meanwhile, Pivo Finance provides customers with a digital-only banking solution, while Pivo Plus offers insurance, corporate compliance and tax regulatory support.

Following its $550,000 pe-seed, the company launched Pivo Business, which it claims helps supply chain SMEs achieve better cash flow.

If you want to know more about the startup, now is a good time to revisit this story: How Pivo provides fast and reliable financial services for Africa’s supply chain companies

Pivo will use the funds to establish its presence outside the Lagos office, expand operations into East Africa and expand its team.

For more information on the funding, please read Chimgozirim’s story here: Nigerian fintech startup Pivo raises $2 million in seed funding to provide banking services for African SMEs

Djamo’s $14 million funding

Ivorian fintech startup Djamo announced yesterday that it had raised $14 million in funding to help expand into two other francophone African countries before the end of 2023.

Y Combinator, Enza Capital, Oikocredit and Partech Africa led the round, with Janngo Capital, P1 Ventures, Axian and Launch Africa also participating.

The company was founded in 2021 by Régis Bamba and Hassan Bourgi to offer financial services to the underbanked and unbanked population in French-speaking markets.

The startup says its app supports bank-to-mobile money interoperability, meaning customers in the Ivory Coast can send money from their bank accounts to mobile money wallets and back.

Djamo’s Visa-powered debit card allows users to buy online from companies such as Amazon, Alibaba and Netflix.

The other products include virtual accounts for peer-to-peer transactions, a product for receiving salaries and an auto-savings product that provides financial guidance to customers.

The start-up will use the funds to expand the company’s product offering to include investments and lending.
Do you want more information? Read this article: Ivorian fintech startup Djamo gets $14M to expand financial services product to Francophone Africa

ARA unlocks Kandon technology’s accounts

Nigerian liquidity management startup Kandon Technologies has been cleared of money laundering and card fraud charges against it in July 2022.

Kenya’s anti-money laundering agency, the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), petitioned the country’s high court in July to freeze bank accounts belonging to Kandon and Kora Pay, another Nigerian fintech company, pending an investigation.

The companies were accused of smuggling $51 million (KSh6 million) into the East African country.

The court froze funds totaling $126,841 (KSh15 million) found in Kandon’s two UBA accounts and $249,565 (KSh29.5 million) found in Kora Pay’s equity bank account.

Kandon’s accounts were to be frozen during the six-month investigation period following the court decision.

However, on 19 October 2022, four months into the investigation, the ARA withdrew its allegations.
In a letter to UBA, ARA requested that Kandon be given access to his frozen funds, as “the agency has completed its investigations and does not intend to proceed with the case. In this connection, we ask the bank to allow access to the funds to the account holders.”

Acorn TV is closing down in South Africa

By the end of 2022, the American video streaming platform, Acorn TV, will cease operations in South Africa.

Current customers can cancel their subscriptions by going to “My Acorn TV” before proceeding to “Manage Account.” Android or iOS subscribers can visit the account overview in the app store.

American entertainment company AMC Networks launched Arcon TV, a UK-focused video streaming platform, in 2018 in South Africa.

When the company launched the service, it initially cost $4.99 per month (R71.51 at the time), but it later reduced it to a rand-denominated fee of R79 per month.

It also contained a small catalog of 39 primarily lesser-known series, many of which were from the UK.

The arrival of the BBC’s on-demand streaming service, BritBox, in South Africa may have significantly eroded Acorn’s value proposition.

Britbox launched in 2021 with 141 titles, far more than Acorn TV, for a monthly fee of R99.99. Since then, the library has grown to 217 titles, while the monthly fee has remained constant.

Although both services offered many of the same titles, BritBox featured more recognizable classic British shows such as Blackadder, Mr Bean, Fawlty Towers and Midsomer Murders.

The platform has also added a steady stream of new original BritBox titles to its catalogue, including The Cleaner, Hope Street, Hollywood Bulldogs and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans, thanks to support from the BBC and ITV.

Interestingly, Arcon did not provide further details as to why it was shut down in South Africa.

What I read and watch

Possibilities

• The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for an external software engineer to join the team. Search here.
• Applications are open for the Village Capital Financial Solutions for Migrants Accelerator Program 2023. It supports innovation across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia to increase migrants’ access to financial services and employment opportunities. Search here.
• Applications for the CyberGirls Fellowship Program 2023 are now open. Search here.
• Startups in Kenya and Tanzania can get a chance to scale their impact-driven companies and receive a grant investment of up to €100K from develoPPP Ventures. Search here.
• Applications for the Metaverse Design Thinking Course are now open. Search here.

Have a fun weekend.

Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa.