Minka Launches Operations In East & Southern Africa

Colombian fintech startup Minka has announced plans to expand to Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia, Burundi, Uganda, and Mozambique in the first phase.

“Our expansion into Africa is a testament to our continued mission to build more efficient payments infrastructure across the Global South. Low levels of financial inclusion, a heavy reliance on cash, and non-interoperable legacy payment systems are just a few of the issues our team in Latin America have successfully overcome and we believe it is our duty to continue creating solutions that benefit society,” Minka’s CEO Domagoj Rozic said.

“We’re excited to bring our story and the benefits of our approach to people in Africa, where we’re building impactful connections between financial institutions of all types and allowing teams to build and connect payment systems in days instead of years,” Alexander Perko, Minka’s Growth Lead added.

Founded in Bogota, Colombia, in 2016, the fintech, which offer a cloud-based programmable solution, raised $24M in 2022 in a Series A funding round which saw participation from Tiger Global Management, Kaszec Ventures, and the FinTech Collective.

The company said that its initial focus on Eastern and Southern Africa will be borrowed successful model in Latin America, where it bridges the gaps between banks, financial institutions, central banks, fintechs, and clearing houses online through shared and connected ledgers.

Minka is banking on the similarities in demographics between its home market and the African continent, as well as the latter’s rapidly growing and highly competitive fintech space.