Mercury Bank vs African Startups: How The Favourite Startup Bank Served A Rude Awakening

For the ever-widening pool of brilliant, intrepid local entrepreneurs behind some of the most exciting startups in Africa, building a local (or global) business that has a shot at making it often requires getting some sort of ‘foreign makeover.’

It works out great for the most part, but there’s always the possibility of suffering terrible, apparently geographically-motivated ‘glitches’ that pretty much cripple entire businesses without a moment’s notice. Like the ongoing issue that has an estimated one hundred or more African startups tied down by Mercury Bank, their main banking partner in the U.S.

Over the last 48 hours, Twitter has been the unofficial muster point of concerned African tech founders, stakeholders and operators who are obviously less than pleased with the sudden freeze placed on dozens of accounts tied to African startups by the self-styled ‘bank for startups,’ Mercury.