3 innovative Neobanks changing the banking industry in Africa

By Edlyn Cardoza

The current boom in digital banking is most evident in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Driven by the growing investor enthusiasm for the sector, considering that Venture Capital funds devoted in the first half of last year over $2 billion to Neobanks.

20% of the Earth’s surface is occupied by Africa, which is more than China, Canada, and the USA combined. Simultaneously, the country is home to 16% of the world’s population, where the majority are still unbanked. The Neobanks in Africa are currently being watched by the entire world as Africa is booming in this sector! Therefore, there are various successful digital banking apps, companies across African countries.

Here are the 3 rising Neobanks:

Chipper cash (Uganda)

Chipper Cash, raised $30 million in the Series B funding round, that was led by Ribbit Capital, with the participation of Bezos Expeditions — the personal Venture Capital fund of Jeff Bezos. The startup which was founded in San Francisco in 2018, raised $30 million in the Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital . Its latest round was a $100m Series C in May 2021 from Silicon Valley Bank Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos Expeditions, One Way Ventures, 500 Startups, Tribe Capital, and Bruez Ventures.

This app covers cross-border payments throughout Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and Rwanda. Users of this app, can easily make money transfers and bill payments without worrying about any additional fees. Besides this P2P app, it also executes a payment product which is merchant-focused, known as Chipper Checkout. This product generates enough revenue in order to support Chipper Cash’s services, which is free of cost. Recently also, the Neobank beta-tested exciting features which allowed users to buy and sell Bitcoin, as well as invest in US stocks from Africa. 

Eversend (Uganda)

Eversend, a French startup, caters to the African diaspora across the globe. The startup solves the problem of cross-border transfers and offers, virtual debit cards, multi-currency e-wallet, insurance solutions and offline access to funds (via USSD). Without internet connection too, Eversend can be used, which is vital, given that 65% of the country’s population aren’t online.

Eversend permits several types of P2P transactions, such as Eversend users can transfer money in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda; money transfer via mobile to users of Airtel, Tigo, MTN and MPESA who could be located in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya; and transfers to any bank accounts in Nigeria.

7aweshly

Dedicated to the Egyptian youth between the ages of 16 -21, 7aweshly is a money-saving app. The app’s basic function are established on a micro-saving mobile application tool specifically targeted for youth. This app also has quite a few features, a gamified network, and an AI connected Facebook chatbot, that groups their users according to their saving skills and fights financial illiteracy.

The newest feature of the app is the ability to save money on gold and building habits for long-term saving. The users of this app can make deposits via CIB ATM and can also lay down on the platform, their respective financial goals. The app has plans to expand their deposit facility not only to the young, but also to the pharmacies and supermarkets. The startup received $28K while participating in the North African Flat6Labs Accelerator program.

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