Nigeria’s Three Fastest Growing Fintechs in 2025
The Financial Times’ 2025 list of Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies highlights 130 firms that have recorded the most significant revenue growth between 2020 and 2023.
Among them are three fintech companies from Nigeria, which continue to expand despite economic pressures and reduced venture capital across the continent.
These companies have shown resilience in navigating currency fluctuations, inflation, and a more cautious investment landscape.
Read more: https://fintechnews.africa/45300/fintech-nigeria/nigeria-fintechs-ft-2025/
Push to digitise how Africans pay and move cash sends fintechs into merger frenzy
SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | Fierce competition in Africa’s digital and cross-border payment sector is fuelling a wave of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), as fintech giants, banks, and telcos pursue strategic tie-ups to expand their market share.
As rivalry heats up, companies are betting on consolidation to outmanoeuvre competition in an increasingly fractured market, where innovation and expansion determine survival.
The push reflects soaring demand for faster, cheaper, and more inclusive financial services in Africa, where Mastercard’s report anticipates digital transactions to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.
Crossfin Expands Globally with Strategic Investment in UAE Fintech Unitey
The South African fintech investment team at Crossfin has taken its first steps to a new global focus with an investment in UAE-based Unitey Digital Holdings through its newly established Crossfin Singapore investment vehicle.
Our goal since the founding of Crossfin is to put money behind strategic payment rails in Africa and beyond and then invest in fintechs that provide innovations that can be leveraged across the rails. With the launch of Crossfin Singapore, we are taking our proven fintech investment philosophy to new markets. We hope our investment in Unitey is the first in a growing portfolio of likeminded assets in the Middle East, Africa and into Southeast Asia.
– Anton Gaylard, co-founder and CXO, Crossfin
Crossfin Singapore has attracted two initial anchor investors – Standard Bank and Turing Capital Fund, a sub-fund of Chronos Capital Fund VCC.
Catalyst Partners seals Egypt’s first fintech SPAC deal in $23m Qardy buyout
The acquisition of Qardy, a digital lending platform founded in 2022, is executed through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) merger. This strategic move allows CPME to leverage Qardy’s presence in Egypt’s digital lending space, particularly targeting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) seeking funding.
This landmark deal follows the precedent set by Swvl, an Egypt-born and Dubai-based mass transit and shared mobility provider, that went public in March 2022 through a SPAC merger with Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital. Swvl’s listing on the Nasdaq marked it as the first company launched from Africa and the second Middle Eastern company to go public via a SPAC merger.
Read more: https://techpoint.africa/news/qardy-egypt-spac-deal/
Cash, contactless, and the contours of Africa’s digital payment evolution
In the vibrant markets of Lagos, the winding alleys of Nairobi, and the digital kiosks of Casablanca, a quiet revolution is underway—one that is redefining how money moves across the African continent. While digital payment infrastructure has expanded steadily over the past decade, recent data suggests Africa remains a continent caught between two economic paradigms: the persistence of cash and the promise of contactless technology.
According to the WorldPay Global Payments Report 2024, mobile money accounts have reached an impressive 2.1 billion globally, a considerable share of which is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, home to the mobile money revolution. Yet despite this growth, over 43 percent of all transactions in Africa in 2022 were still settled in cash, and in Nigeria—the continent’s largest economy—cash still accounted for 55 percent of purchases in 2023. This is more than triple the global average of 16 percent, highlighting a clear lag in the continent’s journey toward digital transformation.
Sweden’s central bank comes down hard in favour of cash payments
In making its submission to country’s ongoing Cash Inquiry, The Riksbank emphasises that it is essential that people can continue to use cash to enable all members of society to make payments, and for the resilience of the payment system.
“People should always be able to pay for food, healthcare and medicines both digitally and with cash,” says Erik Thedéen, governor of the Riksbank. “The increasingly turbulent global situation, increased cyber attacks and also the major power outages in southern Europe show the importance of being able to make payments even when the internet is down”
