After a two-year stint in regulatory purgatory, Africa's two largest tech hubs are off the 'grey list'. VCs and payment startups can breathe… a little.
The timing of the announcement is telling. It comes just as the champions of this new, tech-first model are demonstrating their formidable financial power.
The raise, which includes Visa and Google, defies a broader African tech funding downturn and will fuel the $1bn-plus-valued company’s continental expansion.
Sixteen months later, on a hot July day in 2026, Egypt's finance minister, Ahmed Kouchouk, returned to a company whose public frustration had once laid bare the country's industrial bureaucracy.
The new virtual asset rules demand high capital, local custody, and bank-held reserves - creating a moat that traditional lenders are perfectly positioned to fill.
