Just months after facing a potential collapse due to a sudden freeze in US foreign aid, African insurtech OKO Finance has found a new path forward, securing a coveted spot in Visa’s Africa Fintech Accelerator.
The company was named early this month as part of the fourth cohort of the 12-week program, which is designed to fast-track the growth of promising fintechs across the continent. For OKO, the selection is more than a validation of its business model — it’s a critical lifeline.
The startup’s troubles began in January when the Trump administration enacted a broad suspension of foreign aid. USAID, the American agency for international development, issued Stop Work orders on all its projects, including a flagship OKO initiative in Ivory Coast to develop new climate insurance products for smallholder farmers.
The move also indefinitely suspended two other major projects with USAID that were in their final stages.
“We survived COVID-19, we survived the war in Israel, but we might not survive Donald Trump,” said Simon Schwall, co-founder and CEO of OKO, at the time.
With USAID funding accounting for a significant portion of its 2025 revenue pipeline, the freeze triggered an immediate liquidity crisis for the company.
A New Path with Visa
OKO’s inclusion in the Visa accelerator marks a significant pivot. The program offers mentorship, tailored training, and access to Visa’s extensive network and resources. It is part of Visa’s pledge to invest $1 billion by 2027 to support Africa’s digital transformation.
Since launching in 2023, the accelerator has supported 64 fintechs whose alumni have collectively raised over $55 million after completing the program. OKO joins a cohort of 21 other startups from 12 African countries tackling challenges in areas from cross-border payments and lending to AI-powered commerce.
“Visa is committed to fostering innovation and promoting access and inclusion within Africa’s financial ecosystem,” said Leila Sarhan, Senior Vice President at Visa. “We are proud to introduce the participants of Cohort 4, whose diverse initiatives are set to deliver meaningful benefits to individuals, merchants, and businesses.”
The program will conclude with an in-person Demo Day, where OKO and other participants will pitch to investors and key partners, opening doors to the private sector funding needed to build a more resilient business model.
What is OKO Finance?
Founded in 2017, OKO provides mobile-based crop insurance to protect smallholder farmers from the financial shocks of volatile climate events like droughts and floods. Operating in Mali and Uganda, the company has insured over 15,000 farmers.
The company has demonstrated significant traction, reporting a sixfold increase in paying clients in 2021. Before the USAID crisis, OKO had raised $500,000 in an extension round to fund its expansion into Ivory Coast, building on a $1.2 million seed investment from April 2021.
It is also an alumnus of several other accelerators, including the Barclays Accelerator in Tel Aviv, the impact-tech accelerator Katapult, and the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab, signalling strong underlying confidence in its model.
The Political Risk
OKO’s experience serves as a case study on the geopolitical risks facing startups that rely on government development funds. The Trump administration’s freeze was justified in a memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which directed federal agencies to halt disbursements to prevent funds from supporting what it called “Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies.”
The move drew sharp criticism, with legal experts and politicians arguing it was a violation of impoundment laws, which prevent a president from unilaterally withholding funds appropriated by Congress.
For OKO, the political fallout had a direct and immediate business impact. While the company stated its projects were fully developed and could be transferred to other funding bodies, the sudden halt forced it to scramble for alternative capital.
Its acceptance into the Visa program offers a chance to diversify its partnerships and reduce its dependency on a single, politically volatile source of funding. As OKO navigates its next chapter, its story is a stark reminder for the African tech ecosystem that a diversified funding and support strategy is not just a goal, but a necessity for survival.