Curated
Unicorn Or Not, What Exactly Is Chipper Cash Trying To Be?
Chipper Cash has been in the news a lot lately. Most recently, Chipper Cash announced a USD 100 Mn Series C just days ago and thanks to TechCrunch, everyone now thinks of the startup as a unicorn, even though the company itself is not comfortable with that label... In any case, why are renowned investors pumping so much money into a startup that basically kicked off as a no-fee money transfer tool for intra-African transfers? And why does a startup that launched barely 3 years ago need so much money so quickly?Sure, remittances are huge in Africa but the bulk of the cash comes from outside of Africa
After peeping under the hood and speaking to a Chipper Cash executive, we came upon some evidence that point to a rare case of a remittance company with: payments features for everyday expenses, a Robinhood component, and Neobank ambitions.
African markets and the cash culture
Spotify. Netflix. Amazon. These are few—but among the major—international brands who are also running the African race.
But the "Africa" these bigwigs are charting courses for doesn't have markets as tapped as that of, say, the United States. The major reason for this is: many African consumers still use CASH...
Despite the significant uptake of mobile money in places like Kenya, consumers still prefer cash-for-merchandise—especially in the ruralities.
Who do you think is going to bring the cash users under the beam of financial services?
The Absence Of VCs In Kenya Is Quite Conspicuous Yet Ignored
Kenya has hundreds of interesting startups coming up in every quarter but when it comes to the tech fund managers, they are almost non-existent. Look at the data above. Only 7 local VCs invested in Kenyan startups since 2019.
This conversation really needs to happen openly. In the article, you'll consume data about investments..., comparisons of investment landscape in Africa's largest tech ecosystems, bytes from interesting individuals in Kenyan tech-ecosystem and a snippet of what can possibly be a solution. Read the full article here.
PAYG Is Not A Profitable Business, Especially For African Solar Startups
Sub-Saharan Africa is the abode of three-quarters of the total 800 million people that are still in the dark worldwide. `
As a result, Africa-focused pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar firms basked in downpour of investors’ million-dollar interests. The funding rounds... for these companies became more frequent and came in larger sums.
However, since 2020, African PAYG solar is unusually quiet. That could be because the sector itself has some inherent challenges.
Dr. Harald Schützeichel, who runs Sendea—a business incubator for solar companies in Africa—reveals that PAYG solar startups in the continent may turn out as unprofitable as they are elsewhere, as there’s more than what meets eye.
For Kenyan Fintech Startups, Safaricom Is Both A Blessing And A Curse
M-Pesa by the East African giant Safaricom, has been the most talked about mobile money product in Africa.
It went ahead to become a case study for many emerging markets. The equivalent of nearly 50% of the home country's GDP was transacted... via mobile money a year ago. And guess, who takes the maximum share? It is often joked around in the Kenyan ecosystem that the biggest competition of a fintech is not a fintech, but the biggest African telco itself.
More so because, this telco provides infrastructure to these startups to develop their products. Well, each opinion differs from the other.We spoke with fintech startups as well as experts in the Kenyan ecosystem to find out what they feel: Pain or gain?