2024 has been the year for African fintech. Fintechs remain the most-funded startups in Africa’s tech ecosystem, securing 35% of the total funds raised in H1 2024. The sector also welcomed two new unicorns: Moniepoint and Tyme Bank.
While the year has seen fintechs record successes, it’s worth looking at emerging fintech companies with potential for global reach. This article highlights four key product categories of fintechs to watch in 2025. Each category lists two or three startups to watch and their products.
Credit Card Business—Allawee, Monapp
Although card payments have grown to be the second most popular mode of payment in Nigeria, credit card adoption is yet to catch on. Only 2% of Nigerians own a credit card. While the Nigerian government plans to raise the adoption of consumer credit to 50% by 2030, several fintech startups have launched to offer credit solutions to their customers.
Allawee: Launched in 2023, Allawee Technologies Limited is a licensed Digital Money Lender (DML) that offers credit cards to Nigerians.
In December 2024, it partnered with Providus Bank, Mastercard, and Remita to launch its credit card offering. The card allows users to get credit equal to 30–90% of their net income, up to a maximum of ₦1,000,000 ($605). Customers can use the credit card to make payments like regular debit cards. They can shop online or pay at hardware terminals like ATMs and PoS devices. Users have up to four months to repay their debts in a maximum of three installments.
MONAPP: While credit-card behemoth American Express has launched in Nigeria to cater to luxury travelers, restaurants, and hotels, MONAPP, a Nigerian fintech company, is targeting a niche audience: commercial transportation. MONAPP provides easy access to credit—through its credit cards—to commercial drivers for vehicle maintenance and emergency repairs. Many drivers operate under hire-purchase agreements, leaving them with limited funds for unexpected vehicle maintenance.
Contactless payments— Cash Africa, Karla, TAP
Although contactless payments is still in the early stages of adoption in Nigeria, startups and banks are gearing up for its adoption. Nigerian banks like UBA and Providushave been issuing contactless cards—capped at N30,000 transactions—to customers inthe past three years. While more NFC-enabled phones and a likely change in user behavior could enable the adoption of contactless payments, startups like Cash Africa, Karla, and TAP are positioning themselves first in the market.
TAP: Launched in 2017 by Olamide Afolabi, Michael Oluwole, and Kabir Yabo, Touch and Pay Technologies, the YCombinator-backed startup support payments for mobility services in Lagos through its NFC-enabled Cowry Cards. The fintech is solely responsible for accepting payments on Lagos’ intracity transport system, including the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a popular public-private metro partnership, and Lagos ferries and train service. The startup claims that its Cowry card is used for 500,000 daily trip payments by 3.8 million users in Lagos.
Cash Africa: Launched in 2023, CashAfrica builds an API that allows banks and fintechs to offer customers a tap-to-pay option within their banking apps. While working to integrate with banks, the fintech has a mobile app—Cash Mobile—that allows users to make transactions using the tap-to-pay feature on their mobile phones
Karla: Karla is a Nigerian-based contactless payment platform that allows you to make quick and secure payments with your mobile device or contactless card. It enables you to link your preferred payment method to the Karla app and then use your device or card at participating merchants’ contactless terminals to complete transactions swiftly and securely.
Payment Infrastructure— Zone, Keyrails, Hub2
The surge in African cross-border trade has led to a demand for robust payment infrastructure with robust anti-fraud measures and adherence to KYC/AML regulations. New startups across the continent are rising to the task.
Zone: In 2022, Zone, a Nigerian payments infrastructure company, broke off from its parent company, Appzone, after it secured a payment switching and processing license from the Central Bank of Nigeria. The startup became the first licensed African payment infrastructure company powered by blockchain technology.
Zone claims over 15 of Africa’s major banks and fintech businesses—including Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, United Bank of Africa, Fair Money, Baxi, and Kongapay—use its network to process payments.
In August 2024, the company partnered with the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme (NIBSS) to introduce blockchain technology to Point-of-sale (POS) terminal payments. The partnership will allow participating financial institutions to view the blockchain ledger that contains all recorded transactions, helping banks reconcile transactions, settle disputes quickly, cut customer wait times, and reduce chargebacks and other POS-related fraud.
Keyrails: Launched in 2023, Keyrails is a global payments infrastructure company that provides payment rails for cross-border transactions among businesses and users in the US, Africa, and China. The startup enables seamless, non-pre-funded international 1st & 3rd party payments through SWIFT & local banking rails, all initiated directly from a USDC treasury.
HUB2: Launched in 2019 by Ashley Gauzere, Ivory Coast-based fintech, HUB2 wants to become the “Stripe for Francophone Africa.” The payment aggregator enables fintechs to collect payments and payouts in markets they operate in through a unified payment infrastructure API.
HUB2 allows fintech companies to collect mobile money, bank transfers, card payments, and cryptocurrency through a single API. It operates in six Francophone countries—Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, and Cameroon—and serves clients like Ghana’s Zeepay, Tanzania’s NALA, SA’s Onafriq and YC-backed Ivorian neobank, Djamo.
Escrow services— Aje, Midddleman
In 2022, social commerce in Africa and the Middle East was estimated to be a $9 billion market. However, as more Africans adopt online shopping, social commerce has been a hotbed for fraud and scams. Startups like Midddleman and Aje have become important in reducing the lack of trust on social media platforms.
Middleman: Launched in 2023 by Omolara Sanni and Adeola Owosho, Midddleman is an escrow service that acts as a safe deposit to collect and hold payments from customers until the customers confirm that the products they have received are satisfactory.
To initiate a transaction on Midddleman, the vendor creates an escrow. The platform then sends the buyer a payment prompt via SMS and email, including bank account details, a unique “Release Code,” and a “Dispute Link.” Buyer funds are held securely in escrow until the transaction is completed. Upon completion, the buyer sends the Release Code to the vendor, triggering fund release. In case of unsatisfactory delivery, the buyer utilises the Dispute Link to initiate a claim. Midddleman facilitates dispute resolution to ensure a fair outcome.
Aje: Launched in 2022 by Ifeoluwa Wole-Osho, Aje provides escrow services like Midddleman but uses a blockchain-secured escrow. The startup provides escrow payments alongside tools like multi-currency wallets, dispute resolution systems, and a built-in marketplace, catering to both local and cross-border transactions. The startup claims to have onboarded over 7,500 users and facilitated over 1,000 secure escrow transactions.
