💰 BANKING INSIGHT: Digital Banks Reset The African Fintech Playbook In this week's #TechTidesTuesday column in Business Report and African Tech Roundup, Andile Masuku explores how Africa's digital banks are pioneering a fresh path to sustainable growth, challenging the "growth at all costs" mindset that has dominated fintech. 📱 📌 While global players like Revolut post record profits, African success stories like TymeBank and Carbon reveal a crucial truth: sustainable growth trumps the cash-burning model. From Moniepoint Group's reported strategic evolution in Nigeria to Tinkoff 's (now T-Bank) emergence as an unlikely role model, the piece examines how the next chapter of digital banking might well be written by those who successfully balance innovation with commercial fundamentals. The key insight? The era of growth at all costs is giving way to a more nuanced approach—one that recognises profitability and scale aren't mutually exclusive, especially in Africa's price-sensitive markets. 🔗 Link to the full article in the comments. #AfricanTech #Fintech #DigitalBanking #Innovation
African Tech Roundup
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Independent insights and analysis on technology, entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa
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African Tech Roundup is a Pan-African media and insights organisation, aka village square, which tracks the progress of Africa’s emerging digital, tech and innovation industries. The platform produced podcasts, syndicated op-eds, omnichannel media projects, live events, in-depth fringe insights coverage of leading conferences and bespoke stakeholder interventions— with a finger on the pulse of the most pertinent ecosystem issues and aspirations, and a penchant for extracting and delivering candid insight and analysis.
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In other news... Herewith, wholegrain VC exit insights courtesy of Derin Adebayo and Osarumen Osamuyi via The Subtext. You're welcome and Happy Holidays! 👇🏾 ✨
African startups went from raising $320M in 2014 to peaking at $5B+ in 2021 (a nearly sixteen-fold increase in seven years). By 2023, the number had fallen by over 50% to $2.2B. This rollercoaster funding journey has left the African tech ecosystem completely transformed. A few days ago, Tyme Bank announced its $250M Series D round, which valued the company at $1.5B. This made it the ninth African start-up to hit a billion-dollar valuation, following Moniepoint’s recent round a few months ago. Africa’s nine unicorns have a combined valuation of ~$14.7B. According to an analysis by Maxime Bayen and Max Cuvellier Giacomelli, growth-stage African startups raised $6.9B between 2019 and 2023. Given the amount of growth-stage capital that has entered the ecosystem over the past few years and the number of unicorns that have been minted as a result, investors are understandably starting to get nervous about the continent's lack of exits. I first wrote about this topic in collaboration with Osarumen Osamuyi in an article called "The Chicken or The Exit?" (2021). At the time, we argued that it was too early for conversations about the lack of exits on the continent. In the three years after we wrote that essay, African tech brought in $12B of capital (2021 - 2023), roughly double the amount raised in the prior 11 years. This increased funding has led to increased exit activity. Since 2019, companies such as Jumia, Fawry, Instadeep, Sendwave, DPO, Paystack, and Expensya have all exited for more than $100M. However, these exits still pale compared to the amount of capital that has come in. Since 2010, all major exits (>$100M) for African startups sum up to just $4B. Over the same period, African start-ups have raised almost $20B. Given this backdrop, we decided to revisit the topic of exits in an article titled “When will the exits cross the road?” The article covers the history of the African tech ecosystem, its current state, and our thoughts on its future. It's some of my best work and it ends on a pretty hopeful note. You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/ebUXVf8F Thank you to Eloho Omame, Kola A., and Fope Adelowo for speaking with us while we worked on this; Precious Amuta for helping with the research; Ifedoyin Shotunde for the cover illustration; and Owolawi Kehinde for art direction and essay graphics.
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African Tech Roundup reposted this
Building community and catalysing networks on LinkedIn (and beyond) | Strategist, Media and Editorial Specialist and Community Builder
First it's major updates from OpenAI, Anthropic and Grok, then Amazon and Perplexity swoop in... Wait, here comes Google... Hold up, NVIDIA enters the chat! Is it software? Hardware? AI? Plot twist: it's ALL of them! The tech world's got my head spinning... 🤯
Gotta love what Jensen and Nvidia have been cooking: the Jetson Orin Nano Super, a compact AI computer capable of 70 trillion operations per second. Designed for robotics, it supports advanced models, including LLMs. Retails for $249. Long NVIDIA. 🍪 🎄 https://lnkd.in/ejE6sWQK
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🌐 ECOSYSTEM INSIGHT: WhatsApp's Global Dominance and Africa's Tech Evolution—A 2024 reflection In this year-end musing, Andile Masuku explores how WhatsApp's transformation from messaging app to digital infrastructure mirrors Africa's own tech evolution, particularly through the lens of Ethiopian and Nigerian developer communities. 📱 Key observations: - WhatsApp: 2B daily users, 100B messages, 60 languages - Meta's growing grip on Global South commerce - The stark contrast between Ethiopian and Nigerian tech cultures - From Sophia robot to AI: how quickly 'cutting-edge' becomes history The fascinating part? While WhatsApp becomes "the internet" for billions, home-grown tech entrepreneurs like Amadou አማዱ Daffe (Gebeya Inc.) and Adewale Yusuf (TalentQL Inc. (Techstars '21)) are pushing for Africa's tech talent story to evolve from siloed national markets into a powerful continental force. 🔗 Link to the full article in comments. #AfricanTech #TechTidesTuesday #WhatsApp #GlobalTech
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It appears that Andile Masuku's been onto Tyme's steady, fundamentals-based rise for a while now. 📈 🦄 In case you missed it, his #TechTidesTuesday op-ed last week, "Beyond Growth—Building Digital Banks That Balance Scale and Sustainability," is well worth a read: ✅ https://lnkd.in/dCFQZxtP
Tyme 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬! 🦄 We are excited to announce that Nubank has joined its shareholder base through a strategic investment during its Series D Capital Raise. Tyme has now also firmly achieved unicorn status after securing a total of US$250 million in funding for a total valuation of US$1.5 billion. 📍 Detail here: https://lnkd.in/g_ra6GRV "Nubank transformed financial services in Brazil. We are excited by the value that Nubank's thought partnership and advice can bring to Tyme, particularly in areas such as data analytics, credit risk management, product development and marketing - levers we believe are key to achieving leadership in our markets. This is a moment of great significance for Tyme," said Coenraad (Coen) Jonker, Co-Founder and CEO of Tyme Group. GoTyme Bank /TymeBank / TymeX #Tyme #Nubank #Nu #GoTymeBank #TymeBank #weareunicorns #unicorntyme #banking #fintech
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🌍 TALENT INSIGHT: Ethiopia's Tech Rise vs Nigeria's Developer Gold Rush This #ThrowbackPOD conversation with Andile Masuku, Amadou አማዱ Daffe (Co-founder & CEO, Gebeya Inc.) and Adewale Yusuf (Co-founder, AltSchool Africa) - taped in 2018 - unpacks a tale of two markets that shaped Africa's tech talent landscape—revealing why Ethiopia's quiet confidence might challenge Nigeria's compensation-driven ecosystem. 📈 📌 From Ethiopia's 43 CS-focused universities to Nigeria's $50k developer salaries, this 2018 exchange captures a pivotal moment in African tech. While Nigeria grappled with the "Andela Effect" driving local talent prices skyward, Ethiopia was quietly building a powerhouse of humble, highly skilled developers. The key insight? Building a sustainable tech talent ecosystem isn't about competing on salary alone. It's about fostering a culture of excellence that transcends compensation. 🎧 Link to the episode in the comments. Listen through for fascinating revelations about Paga Group Ltd's Ethiopian development roots and frank discussions about developer mindsets across both markets—they're eye-opening. #AfricanTech #TechTalent #DeveloperCommunity #StartupGrowth
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What feels like a lifetime ago, Andile Masuku penned this BBC News article sketching Facebook's (now Meta) ambitious digital money world domination bid back in 2019 👉🏾 "Will Facebook's digital money Libra be good for Africa?" ✅ https://lnkd.in/d852-_-k Now, enter Libra 2.0. Issie Lapowsky's vivid reporting for Rest of World unpacks slick new fintech strategy moves by Zuck & Co. via WhatsApp. 👇🏾 📰
If you live in the rest of the world, WhatsApp is the internet. It has 2 billion daily users who send 100 billion messages every day in 60 languages across 180 countries. As WhatsApp turns to businesses and aims to make a profit, can it do it without alienating those 2 billion users? How WhatsApp ate the world — Rest of World's first of three stories on the influence and impact of WhatsApp, and what comes next for the world's biggest messaging platform. Reported by Issie Lapowsky.
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For many tech founders aiming to break into the VC ecosystem, the question was once, "To YC or not to YC?" Today, it's increasingly about staying home, grinding, and leveraging support from local VCs and venture-building champions. Here's Tage Kene-Okafor with the low-down via TechCrunch. 🌍 👇🏾
New: Famed accelerator Y Combinator made a splash in Africa in 2020 when it shined its light on the market and began to accept a dozen startups from the region into its cohorts. Fast forward to today, though, that attention, not just on Africa but emerging tech markets as a whole, has started to look a bit fickle (a return to in-person batches and interest in newer tech like AI are a few reasons why). As such, local accelerators—backed by Flutterwave founders and African YC alumni (Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Olugbenga Agboola)—are emerging to fill the gap. Read more in my latest feature for TechCrunch: https://lnkd.in/eaJPBEHr
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African Tech Roundup reposted this
I enjoyed my conversation with Andile Masuku about my journey with Carbon and sharing some unfiltered thoughts on fintech business models and founder/investor dynamics. Link here: https://lnkd.in/dCbHPhvm
🏦 FINTECH INSIGHT: The Real Cost of 'Free' in African Digital Banking In this African Tech Roundup podcast coversation with Andile Masuku, Chijioke Dozie reveals why Carbon is turning its back on Nigeria's free banking frenzy—a move that's raising eyebrows and questions about sustainable fintech growth. 📈 📌 After 12 years and serving 5M+ Nigerians, Carbon's stance is clear: value beats free. While competitors burn cash offering zero-fee services, Dozie's team built profitability on just $12M in equity. Their journey from 2012—when Nigeria had only 200k credit cards for 180M people—to today offers a lessons in building trust through sustainable innovation. The key insight? Building a bank isn't about quick wins. It's about having the courage to charge for value when everyone else is giving it away. 🎧 Link to the episode in the comments. Listen all the way through to hear Dozie's candid takes on COVID-era decisions and investor relations—they're well worth it. #AfricanFintech #Neobanking #DigitalBanking #StartupGrowth 📸: Accion
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🏦 FINTECH INSIGHT: The Real Cost of 'Free' in African Digital Banking In this African Tech Roundup podcast coversation with Andile Masuku, Chijioke Dozie reveals why Carbon is turning its back on Nigeria's free banking frenzy—a move that's raising eyebrows and questions about sustainable fintech growth. 📈 📌 After 12 years and serving 5M+ Nigerians, Carbon's stance is clear: value beats free. While competitors burn cash offering zero-fee services, Dozie's team built profitability on just $12M in equity. Their journey from 2012—when Nigeria had only 200k credit cards for 180M people—to today offers a lessons in building trust through sustainable innovation. The key insight? Building a bank isn't about quick wins. It's about having the courage to charge for value when everyone else is giving it away. 🎧 Link to the episode in the comments. Listen all the way through to hear Dozie's candid takes on COVID-era decisions and investor relations—they're well worth it. #AfricanFintech #Neobanking #DigitalBanking #StartupGrowth 📸: Accion
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