TechCabal Daily – The battle between fintechs and banks is afoot in South Africa

However, alongside Graham, the round pulled in important investors including Endure Capital, Shorooq Partners and Paul Buchheit who founded Gmail while at Google. Breadfast also said it pulled in other investors from Tanzania, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. With its new funding, the company is expanding to new cities in Africa and the Middle East starting with Dubai.

Still on the virus, TechCabal’s Alexander Onukwe wrote this interesting article about how a number of tech companies in Nigeria are reacting to the outbreak.

Liberia is a country that uses two currencies. Weird. I first discovered how this worked when the Jollof Road team visited Monrovia last year. In this new entry for the TechCabal’s Digital Nomads series, Muyiwa helps us get a better feel of life in Liberia. He spoke with a Liberian citizen who explained that in Monrovia ride-hailing services don’t exist and people use VPN to get around internet restrictions. Of course, there’s the discussion around mobile money and the ATMs that dispense dollar. An interesting read.

TC Insights: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an active investor in Africa’s startup scene. Over the years, it has backed a number of fintech companies on the continent. The organisation wants to streamline international remittances while improving financial inclusion in emerging markets.

It has invested in companies like Interswitch, Branch, Fawry, and Zoona. Last week it joined a consortium of investors to acquire TerraPay, a payments company with over 25 licences and operations in around 60 countries.

IFC’s investment targets are growth and late-stage companies. Typically, it invests between $3 million and $20 million for a minority equity stake. Sometimes it provides debt financing, with a minimum of $10 million.

Are you an investor or founder interested in getting access to free and premium TC Insights reports and analysis? Please fill in this form to let us know your interests.