How Africa minted unicorns Moniepoint, Tyme amid 2024 global funding drought
Africa has seen the emergence of two unicorns in less than two months from two of its biggest economies, South Africa and Nigeria.
On Tuesday, South Africa’s digital banking group Tyme announced the completion of its latest investment round through which it raised a total of $250 million.
It followed Nigerian payment processing firm Moniepoint Inc., which joined the exclusive club of fintechs with at least $1bn valuation in October, when it raised $110m in equity financing.
The two latest unicorns on the continent attracted significant investments this year amid a global funding drought that started in 2023.
Africa now boasts nine unicorns, including Interswitch, Flutterwave, Opay Digital Services, Wave Mobile Money, Andela, MNT Halan and Chipper.
Data from CB Insights showed that the global fintech industry has seen a dramatic slowdown in funding since it peaked at $38.9bn in the fourth quarter of 2022. Funding declined by 25% to $7.3bn in the third quarter of this year compared to the previous three months, with total deals dropping 16% to 753.
Start-ups in Africa have raised $1.7bn as of October, down 32% compared to the same period in 2023, according to data from Africa: The Big Deal. “Last year, this much had already been announced by early June i.e. almost five months earlier than in 2024,” it said.
The global fintech industry witnessed a boom in valuations and funding after the Covid-19 pandemic, but macroeconomic headwinds in 2022 combined with the rise of cryptocurrency dampened investors’ appetite for fintech investment.
Tyme: $1.5bn
Tyme Group, headquartered in Singapore with 15 million customers in Africa and South-East Asia, announced that Nubank, one of the world’s largest financial services platforms, has joined its shareholder base “through a strategic investment” during its series D capital raise
Nubank led the capital raise with an investment of $150 million; M&G’s Catalyst subscribed for $50 million, and existing shareholders are investing a further $50 million, it said.
The digital bank, founded in 2019, achieved unicorn status with a valuation of $1.5 billion.
Tyme’s investors includes the Founders, African Rainbow Capital, The Ethos AI Fund, Apis Growth Fund II, Tencent, The Gokongwei Group, British International Investment, Norrsken 22, Blue Earth and Lavender Hill Capital Partners.
Moniepoint: $1bn
Now headquartered in the United Kingdom, Moniepoint raised $110 million, which accounted for 43% of the total funding of $254m secured by 42 startups in Africa in October, according to funding tracker Africa: The Big Deal, which described it as the best October since 2019.
In the capital raise, the Development Partners International, Google’s Africa Investment Fund and Verod Capital joined existing blue-chip investors in Moniepoint such as QED Investors, Novastar Ventures, Lightrock, British International Investment, Global Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst and New Voices Fund.
The fintech firm, founded in 2015, has seen a surge in its popularity in recent years as many individuals and businesses increasingly relied on its payment platforms for quick electronic transactions.
Early last year, it announced a change of name from TeamApt to Moniepoint, its flagship product, amid an unprecedented scarcity of cash in Nigeria following the redesign of high-value banknotes by the central bank.
The cash crunch, which forced many bank customers to resort to electronic payments, boosted the appeal of fintech operators, including Opay, Moniepoint and Palmpay.
In August last year, Moniepoint entered the personal banking market through its subsidiary, Moniepoint Microfinance Bank.
It was ranked in 2023 as one of Africa’s fastest-growing companies by the Financial Times for the second year in a row.
