Africa’s Latest Unicorn, Kenya’s Absa launches WhatsApp transactions & Audiomack expands its services for African artists | The Round-up

Image Credits: Opera OPay Nigeria

Hey guys. We have another roundup for you, just in case you missed all the juicy African tech news from the month of August. In this article we explore Africa’s latest unicorn, Flutterwave in the US, and Duolingo in South Africa, amongst others. Here’s the roundup. 
​
Africa’s Latest Unicorn
A ‘unicorn’ is a privately held start-up company valued at over $1 billion, and Africa has its latest one - fintech company and super-app, OPay. OPay has recently reached a $2b valuation, making the company the latest unicorn on the continent and the quickest to reach the coveted status in Africa. 

​According to a report from Quartz Africa, the Lagos based startup, “in less than three years, has gone from a curious startup known for its motorcycles in Lagos, Nigeria, to a financial services company worth $2 billion. The latest valuation comes after it raised $400 million from an investment round led by SoftBank, the Japanese investment firm, with Sequoia Capital China, and five other large firms participating...No other startup whose operations are based in Africa has raised as much in one round.”

It is no surprise that fintechs continue to reach billion dollar valuation or unicorn status much quicker than other industries in Africa. This is because most of the funding on the continent tends to be swayed towards the fintech direction due to its obvious success in the region.

We hope to see more unicorns emerge from other sectors on the continent soon.
 
Here is a roundup of other news stories from the African start-up scene in August:

• Nigeria’s government continues to frustrate homegrown tech start-ups as its Central Bank freezes bank accounts of fintech platforms Risevest, Bamboo, Trove and Chaka for the next six months. So far none of the affected companies has come out to refute this claim. This action comes on the back of the recent move by the CBN to stop the sale of foreign exchange (FX) to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators in the country, and a restriction on these platforms for not being duly registered in April.
• A $36m Nigeria-Cameroon border is in the works, to boost trade across both countries. The border bridge project linking Nigeria with the Republic of Cameroon is expected to smoothen the free trade relationship under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) signed by both countries.
• Nigeria’s Flutterwave has hired Silicon Valley veteran, Jimmy Ku, as head of US growth to drive expansion in that region. With plans to offer payment services to US-based clients, local businesses, and companies, Ku’s appointment strengthens Flutterwave’s vision for the US market.
• Global music service Audiomack has extended its monetisation program to independent African Artists. The program which until now was only available in the US, UK, and Canada, is now available to verified artists in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Mexico, India, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti. Expanding its monetisation program into Africa’s biggest markets gives Audiomack access to Africa’s already happening growth.
• Sub-Saharan mobility and vehicle finance company, Moove raised $23M in Series A funding, to create flexible options for drivers to own cars in Africa. The latest funding round brings the company’s total funding to $68.2 million. This includes $28.2 million in equity and $40 million in debt. The company will use the funding to build a full-service mobility fintech. It also aims to promote access and financing for vehicle ownership on the African continent.
• Kenya’s Absa Bank has launched a new solution that allows its customers to access their bank accounts and transact via WhatsApp, as part of their commitment to invest at least Sh1.6 billion this year towards digitisation, automation and innovation. The bank says the solution, a first in the market, will allow Absa customers to conduct some of the most popular digital transactions in the market, including account-to-Mpesa/Airtel Money transfers, inter-account transfers, bill payments, balance enquiry, among others, on WhatsApp. The introduction of WhatsApp banking ushers the sector into the new age of banking which integrates transactional, conversational and personalised banking services in a seamless, fast and reliable way.
• Nigerian competitive eSports startup Gamr has secured seed investment to scale its operations further and deliver new opportunities to Africa’s estimated 750 million gamers.
• Zepz, the company formerly known as WorldRemit Group, has raised $292 million in a fundraising round that values the money-transfer business at $5 billion. The round includes new investors Farallon Capital and existing shareholders LeapFrog, TCV and Accel. Zepz said it will use the funding to invest in its technology and platform as well as its “customer proposition.”
• Two of South Africa’s main languages, Zulu and Xhosa, will be made available on Duolingo, one of the most popular language-learning apps and websites. Creating them will take longer than usual, mainly because of the challenge of figuring out how to teach their ‘click’ sounds.
• Kenya Airways has signed an agreement with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer to launch flying taxis in the capital city of Nairobi in a move aimed at spearheading this transport innovation in the market. The vehicles are expected to cut travel time from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Nairobi’s city centre down to just six minutes.

 What else are we reading:

• Inside Alida school’s plans to raise Africa’s next generation of tech talents
• Obama joins NBA Africa as strategic partner
• Iyin Aboyeji, Caleb Zipperstein, on why Future Africa is opening an office in Israel
• Africa challenger brands by FourthCanvas
• The first Zambian startup to get into YC is developing Africa’s first card-issuing API
• Meet Julaya, a startup solving payment frictions for the World Bank in Ivory Coast
• Funding for African Female Founders, a rounding Error in Global VC Space?

For more news on African tech startups, follow us on Twitter @DiNNAfrica.