South Africa’s first Black-owned bank has hit unicorn status, POCIT reports. Tyme Group, founded in 2019, is majority-owned by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, notes Bloomberg. The platform was designed to make digital banking more affordable and accessible, and it has been an overwhelming success with online and physical banks throughout South Africa and the Philippines. According to TechCrunch, it has attracted 10 million users since its inception and reached an additional 5 million users through its Philippine brand, GoTyme. GoTyme allows users to create an account via its bank app. Customers can then receive an ATM debit card instantly and retrieve it at a kiosk. Tyme Group says it has allocated $600 million in financing to support small businesses and has raised $400 million in customer deposits. Now it is seeking to extend its reach in new markets, which include Vietnam and Indonesia by 2025. This will be made possible in light of a $250 million round led by digital bank Nu...

Co-founders Audrey Djiya and Peter Nsaka have secured funding from Fearless Funding. TechCrunch reports that the pair became connected while attending Stanford University. Djiya attended its school of business, while Nsaka studied computer science. Although they pursued different educational journeys, they were united by a shared mission: solving the complexities surrounding international commerce. Their focus became streamlining the movement of goods across borders, addressing issues such as inefficient supply chains, inconsistent regulations, and barriers to trade. Their unique perspectives and expertise became the foundation for tackling the challenge with innovation and collaboration.  For Djiya, she had taken note from her family, who were entrepreneurs. “Growing up watching family members move goods cross-border, the challenges around international commerce really stuck with me,” she told the outlet. Nsaka made his own observations while at Shopify. He took on the role in 2020...

Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike are reportedly behind Africa’s fastest-growing fintech company. According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, the founders lead Moniepoint, which initially launched under the name TeamApt in 2015. The company has since become a trusted provider of financial solutions, reaching millions of entrepreneurs across Africa and processing over 800 million transactions a month, with those having a monthly total value of more than $17 billion. Moniepoint offers a free personal banking app that allows customers to benefit from a “debit card that always works,” Eniolorunda said in a YouTube video.   In addition to banking accounts, the company offers loans, expense cards, instant payouts, and accounting and bookkeeping solutions, its website lists. Photo Credit: Moniepoint Moniepoint’s business model has made it Africa’s fastest-growing fintech in both 2023 and 2024, per the press release. It is now poised for further growth following a $110 million equity...

Morgan State University is receiving extended financial backing from a leading company that works to “build breakthrough crypto solutions.” On May 14, the National FinTech Center at the Baltimore, MD-based HBCU announced it had been awarded a three-year $1,050,000 grant from Ripple. The new funding will go toward advancing the center’s blockchain and fintech research, education, programming, faculty and student technical projects, ecosystem development, operational support, educational workshops, blockchain clubs, and a fintech solution incubator, per a news release. “This generous $1,050,000 grant is not just an investment; it’s a catalyst that propels our ability to innovate, collaborate, and prepare our students to be at the forefront of the FinTech revolution,” said Ali Emdad, Ph.D., f ounding director of the National Center for the Study of Blockchain and FinTech. “The ongoing partnership with Ripple stands as a beacon, illuminating the path toward a transformative educational...

In January 2022, Esusu reached a $1 billion valuation — making the fintech company one of the few Black-owned unicorns in the U.S. and globally — as previously shared by AFROTECH. However, “Success isn’t built overnight” rings true for the company.

Homeownership is a primary key to building wealth, but there is an alarming gap between Black homeowners and those who are white. Often, the underrepresented group doesn’t even have a fighting chance to successfully apply for a mortgage due to multiple factors such as little to no credit. To level the playing field for Black people in America, Ashley D. Bell and Dr. Bernice A. King have joined forces in shaking up the traditional mortgage lending industry. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ashley D. Bell (@ashleydbell)  

Imagine getting paid just for using your phone? Now you don’t have to with ZmBIZI’s new device. The Z2 is the next evolution in smartphone technology, which allows users to be rewarded in the form of ZmBIZI Coins for using partnering applications, shopping, sharing, and searching on the device. When a user has garnered enough data on their smartphone they can redeem their funds. Each ZmBIZI Coin is valued at $0.01 USD and once users reach $20, the funds will be funneled to the MBZ digital Visa Card, where they can enjoy their earnings freely. “Just being able to look at your phone and get paid is not what is happening today. What is happening today is you are looking at your phone three to 400 times a day, but Apple, Samsung, and everyone else is not giving anything back to you and they have no intention to,” Alpesh Pate, Co-founder of ZmBIZI, told AfroTech. He continued: “What we have created is a device that empowers people to become better than what they are today. We put power...

Access to financial education in America is on the rise thanks to Goalsetter! In a press release, the fintech platform that aims to provide families and K-12 youth with access to banking, financial education tools, investing and savings has just announced that it closed a $15 million Series A funding round. In an investment series led by Seae Ventures, with participants that include Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, Astia Fund, Citizens Financial Group, CUNA Mutual Finance Group, Fiserv, Mass Mutual Catalyst Fund, Sterling National Bank, and a host of others, the funding will allow Goalsetter to further its B2B partnerships that align with its mission to transform financial education and access to wealth for all Americans. “For the first time in the history of America, Goalsetter is merging culture, media and entertainment with the world of finance to bring financial education tools that are fun, engaging, and accessible to every kid and family in the country,” Goalsetter Founder...