The African fintech space saw 26 startup acquisitions between June 2021 and July 2023, up 271 per cent on just seven in the preceding two-year period, with M&A activity in the sector really hotting up. Disrupt Africa’s Finnovating for Africa publication, released every two years since June 2017, tracks the extraordinary development of the fintech ecosystem across Africa. Twenty-six ventures were bought out in the last 24 months, up from just seven in the preceding two-year period between 2019 and 2021. Nigeria was the location for the flagship fintech acquisition of recent years – Paystack’s reported US$200 million acquisition by Stripe in 2020, a big moment that ignited increased interest in the continent’s fintech space. “These numbers are obviously still relatively small compared to more developed ecosystems, but the near-on quadrupling of fintech acquisitions within a two-year period is a significant statistic.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 07, 2023 12:00 UTC