Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator Program Opens

Visa has officially opened applications for the fifth cohort (Cohort 5) of its Africa Fintech Accelerator, a 12-week program designed to help startups grow faster and make a bigger impact. Africa-based fintech with a minimum viable product or market-ready solution have until August 15, 2025, to apply.

At the same time, Visa introduced 22 startups from 12 countries participating in the fourth cohort. These startups are tackling challenges in Africa’s fintech space, from small-business digitization and lending to cross-border payments, AI-powered platforms, climate insurance, and neo-banking.

The Accelerator program offers mentorship, training, networking, and access to funding, helping startups navigate the fintech landscape and scale their solutions. Since 2023, the program has supported 64 fintechs, collectively adding more than $3 million in revenue during the program and helping alumni raise over $55 million afterward. Nearly two-thirds of participating startups include women in leadership roles.

 Chad Pollock, General Manager and VP, Visa East Africa, said, “Visa is committed to fostering innovation and promoting access and inclusion within Africa’s financial ecosystem. As digital transformation accelerates across the continent, we are pleased to invite applications for Cohort 5 of the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator. We are also proud to introduce the participants of Cohort 4, whose diverse initiatives are set to deliver meaningful benefits to individuals, merchants, and businesses.”

The 12-week virtual program concludes with an in-person Demo Day, where startups pitch their solutions to investors, partners, and ecosystem leaders.

Startups shortlisted for Cohort 4 of the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator are:

• • BigDot.ai (Zimbabwe): Helping SMEs move away from cash by enabling digital transformation, seamless checkouts, and blockchain-powered financial inclusion.

  • ChatCash (Zimbabwe): Enables African SMEs to sell and receive payments through popular messaging apps using AI-powered, multilingual tools, integrating payments, customer engagement, and business resources.

  • Credify Africa (Uganda): Bridges the trade finance gap for African importers by providing seamless access to capital, logistics, and cross-border payments.

  • Flend (Egypt): A digital non-bank financial institution (NBFI) for SME finance, offering tech-enabled, data-driven solutions to close the financing gap for underserved businesses in North Africa.

  • Hsabati (Morocco): Helps businesses manage operations through data collection and ecosystem scoring, facilitating financing via partner banks.

  • IPT Africa (Mauritius): Provides cross-border payment solutions, including payroll processing, real-time FX pricing, and same-day bulk payments.

  • Lemonade Payments (Kenya): A white-label digital payments solution that empowers businesses with secure, blockchain-powered wallets without compromising user data.

  • Maishapay (Democratic Republic of Congo): An all-in-one B2B financial platform offering payroll solutions, digital payments, and POS terminals to streamline business transactions.

  • MNZL (Egypt): Expands access to credit through a digital platform for asset-backed financing, tapping into consumers’ home and car equity.

  • Motito (Ghana): An asset financing marketplace providing alternative payment options for customers to purchase essential assets.

  • Muda (Kenya): A digital asset exchange and OTC platform focused on cross-border payments and stablecoin liquidity solutions for African businesses and fintechs.

  • mystocks.africa (Botswana): Simplifies investing across African stock markets by offering a unified platform to trade all African stocks.

  • OKO Finance Ltd (Ivory Coast): Distributes automated climate insurance, helping farms build climate resilience and allowing banks to de-risk investments in agricultural projects.

  • PressPayNg (Nigeria): An education-focused fintech platform providing banking, financing, savings, and insurance solutions to help parents, guardians, youths, and students fund education.

  • Sevi (Kenya): Streamlines B2B payments within non-digital value chains, optimizing credit, payments, reconciliation, and access to stock and financing for small retailers.

  • Shiga Digital Inc (Nigeria): Provides simplified access to decentralized financial solutions for Africa with a purpose-built DeFi account.

  • ShopOkoa (Kenya): Offers AI-driven credit and payment solutions to small- and micro-enterprises through a membership-based system combining daily savings, revenue-based financing, and automated cashflow tracking.

  • Startbutton (Nigeria): A merchant of record helping businesses expand across Africa by facilitating local currency payments tax-efficiently and compliantly, without setting up local offices.

  • Twiva (Kenya): A social commerce platform enabling businesses to market and resell products via social media influencers.

  • Vittas (Nigeria): Empowers healthcare providers with tailored financing, digital tools, and payment solutions to improve patient care.

  • Woliz (Morocco): Transforms nano-stores into digital hubs offering loyalty rewards, payments, and AI-driven operations.

  • Zazu (South Africa): A neobank for African SMEs, providing digital business accounts, expense management, invoicing, and bookkeeping tools in one platform.