Visa Launches The Second Cohort of The Africa Fintech Accelerator Program

Global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers worldwide, Visa, has announced the commencement of its Africa Fintech Accelerator program.

This announcement was made at Fintech Day where several members of the fintech community in Morocco came together to discuss the opportunities to improve the digital payments and financial inclusion landscape in the country.  

Seed to Series A startups operating in Africa that fall under specific categories are encouraged to apply on the Visa website, with applications open until February 29th, 2023.

Visa also announced that they are hosting the program’s first demo day on February 13th in Nairobi. During the event, the first-cohort startups will pitch their innovations to key ecosystem players, funding partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists.

The first cohort featured startups operating in more than 18 African countries – including three from Morocco, one from Egypt, and one from Tunisia, with participants shortlisted from over 1,000 applicants across diverse subsectors including merchant payment solutions, lending infrastructure, Banking-as-a-Service, and B2B marketplaces. 

Seed to Series A startups operating in Africa that fall under the following categories are invited to apply for the second cohort;

• Unlocking money movement: Digitizing various payment types (P2P, B2C, B2B, G2C) to create new commerce opportunities, including cross-border remittances and funds disbursements, open banking and account-to-account solutions, mobile money flows, and interoperability.
• Embedded finance: Creating advanced intelligence to enhance payment and finance experiences in B2C and B2B commerce models, including installments, flexible financing, consumer loyalty, and Fintech-as-a-Service.
• Empowering merchants and SMEs: Accelerating the growth of merchants and SMEs through digital payment solutions to foster financial inclusion, focusing on next-generation omnichannel payments, digital onboarding, working capital optimization, and merchant value-added solutions.
• Payment infrastructure enablers: Building the base layer of payment infrastructure and key enabling services such as authentication and fraud solutions, digital onboarding and identity management, credit scoring and risk management solutions, and data solutions and insights.
• The future of finance: Embracing emerging technologies to revolutionize financial services, such as AI-powered payments, blockchain and enterprise DLT, and programmable money.
• Sustainable and inclusive finance: Enhancing payments technology to contribute to an eco-friendly economy, drive inclusiveness, reduce inequality, and create positive impact through financial services for underserved communities or climate-vulnerable communities and affordable and accessible financial solutions.

The accelerator program, launched in June 2023, aligns with Visa’s pledge to invest $1 billion in Africa by 2027, aiming to revolutionize Africa’s payment ecosystem and uplift the digital economy.