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This Week: Korapay and Kandon accused of fraud in Kenya

By Ngozi Chukwu Jul 16, 2022

Image source: Techcabal

Editor’s Notes

Week 28, 2022
Read time: 5 minutes

The freezing of accounts of Nigerian companies, Korapay Technologies and Kandon Technologies, is our top story this week and one we’ll continue to monitor closely. If you’d like to get into angel investing, our June 3 TC Live session is a conversation you want to catch up on.

Have a great weekend.

Kelechi Njoku, Senior Editor, TechCabal.

Editor’s Picks

	Nigerian Korapay and Kandon accused of money laundering in Kenya What is it about this year’s winter in Kenya? Kenya’s high court has frozen the bank accounts of Nigerian-owned Korapay and Kandon Technologies. They are accused of card fraud and money laundering alongside Flutterwave and 6 other Nigerian companies. Full story is on TechCabal.
	Flutterwave and others shutdown virtual card services For the first time “Let’s break up, it’s not you, it’s me” is truthfully said in a relationship. Yesterday, Flutterwave and many other African virtual card companies sent emails to their customers announcing an indefinite discontinuation of their virtual card services. This spells trouble for thousands of African businesses. Read about it on TechCabal.
	Togo launches novel e-visa platform Imagine you could start and finish an application for a country’s visa on your phone without visiting any immigration office. That imagination is a reality, and Togo is the country. Togo launched Togo Voyage—a website that digitises its entire visa application process. Learn more on TechCabal.
	Wingcopter raises $42 million to bring 12,000 drones to Africa More drones are coming to Africa’s delivery tech scene. Drone tech company Wingcopter has raised $42 million to bring 12,000 drones to sub-Saharan Africa. The company will also build “roads” for the incoming drones in the sky. Learn more on TechCabal.
	London based fintech Zazuu raises $2 million Zazuu is giving the African diaspora the power of choice. It enables users to compare the rates of transfer providers and choose who to send money with. Zazuu has raised $2 million to go beyond Facebook and Telegram groups and build a remittance marketplace. More details are on TechCabal.
	Remittance solution SendSprint launches in the UK SendSprint wants to make payments from diaspora to Africa feel like a quick sprint. It launched 2 products in the UK—Send Money for money transfers to Africa at a flat rate of $5 and Sprint Connect for buying gift cards from African retailers. Learn more on TechCabal.

	Egyptian startup Swvl expands to Mexico Last week, Swvl laid off some employees; this week it welcomed Mexican mobility tech Urbvan into its growing list of acquisitions. This new acquisition gives Swvl presence in Mexico and takes the company’s dream of global expansion further. The news is on TechCabal.

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	Nomanini partners with Baobab Global for global expansion South African fintech Nomanini has teamed up with financial services provider Baobab Global to take its stock buying solution, StockNow, to 8 new African countries. They will start from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). More details are on TechCabal.
	Crypto lender Celsius files for bankruptcy The crash of stablecoin Luna led to several casualties in the digital asset space. One of the major casualties of the crash is crypto lender Celsius. The company paused all withdrawals, laid off 500 workers, and filed for bankruptcy this week. It currently owes its customers $4.7 billion. More details on Business Insider.
	M-Pesa brought in almost $500 million profit to Safaricom The “M” in M-Pesa must stand for “money-making machine”. In Safaricom’s latest fiscal report, M-Pesa contributed almost 50% of the telecom’s profit before tax—$423.8 million. This means that M-Pesa is costing less to operate but yielding the most profit. Find out more on IT News Africa.
	Twitter is suing Elon Musk It’s a case of a jilted bride but this time she is suing. Elon Musk announced that he won’t buy Twitter after courting the company with an offer of $54.20 per share in cash. Now Twitter has filed a lawsuit against him. Read more on Premium Times
	South Africa’s Mara gets a fresh start After going bankrupt, South Africa’s first smartphone factory Mara auctioned its assets, including unsold phones to repay its funders. One year later, it is returning to the tech scene in hopes of getting a fresh start. Read more on MyBroadband.

Who brought the money this week?

Africa-focused fintech Zazuu received $2 million in funding.
Stakefair, a DeFi gaming startup based in Nigeria, secured $670,000 in a pre-seed funding round.
Nigeria-based fintech Swipe raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding to facilitate the expansion of its credit services.
CreditChek, a credit assessment startup based in Nigeria, received $240,000 in a pre-seed round led by Atom Capital.
Ghanaian e-mobility company SolarTaxi raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Persistent.