Optasia, which made history in November 2025 as the largest fintech IPO on the JSE, uses proprietary AI to provide credit scoring and micro-lending to unbanked populations.
In Morocco, three startups are all targeting the same 126,000 independent retailers. Backed by Morocco's largest bank, its royal family holding company, and a South African insurer, the race is now about who locks in the merchant first.
The Cape Town venture studio is doubling down on its hybrid model, but a high failure rate highlights the structural hurdles of scaling science in Africa.
Employees, some of whom are owed salary arrears following the abrupt February shutdown, will rank behind secured creditors under Kenyan insolvency law.
“Local entrepreneurs are deeply embedded in the markets they serve. But too often they encounter financing models that are not designed around their growth realities.”
