LAGOS, Nigeria—The number of fintechs is quickly rising in Africa, with more than 300 startups active across the African continent, reports Disrupt Africa.
The data comes from the Finnovating for Africa: Exploring the African Fintech Ecosystem Report 2017 released by Disrupt Africa. The website stated the growth has happened largely in the last two years.
“The data shows fintech startups are spread across the African continent, with the Southern, West and East African regions equally active, while North Africa lags behind. South Africa is the top destination for fintech startup activity – home to 31.2% of the continent’s fintech startups – while Nigeria and Kenya follow in second and third place respectively,” Disrupt Africa reported.
Of the nine fintech categories covered by the report, payments and remittances startups dominate the market, with 41.5% of all startups focused on this space. Lending and financing are other popular fintech priorities, Disrupt Africa noted.
“With so many of Africa’s citizens still without access to basic financial services, the work being done by the continent’s fintech innovators is of crucial importance and impact. We’re glad to report such thriving activity among Africa’s fintech community, and believe these local entrepreneurs are creating a new model for financial services – and financial inclusion – in Africa,” said Gabriella Mulligan, co-founder of Disrupt Africa.
Since the fintech startup boom here began in earnest in 2015, the research finds the continent’s fintech startups have secured US$92,679,000 in investments, Disrupt Africa reported.
While the payments and remittances, and lending and financing sub-sectors saw the highest values of investment secured, blockchain startups have proven the most likely group of startups to raise external funding – with 38.9% of Africa’s blockchain startups securing funding since the beginning of 2015, Disrupt Africa stated.