Paystack & Apple Pay
Nigerian fintech company, Paystack, achieves yet another milestone. Last year they were acquired by Stripe, and this week they announced an integration with Apple Pay.
The company, in a statement, described the integration as “the fastest, secure way for Nigerian businesses to accept international payments.”
Apple Pay, which is Apple’s digital wallet service, provides users with a secure and private way to pay on their iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and Macbooks.
Despite having a presence in almost every continent since 2014, Apple Pay has been slow to launch in Africa. It made its first foray onto the continent via South Africa in March this year, but only via a select group of banks - Absa, Nedbank and Discovery Bank. Since then Apple made no mention of where it would look to launch next.
Instead of waiting around, Paystack took the initiative. They are the first payment gateway in Nigeria to support Apple Pay. This gives Nigerian businesses access to millions of Apple Pay users in the more than 60 countries where the payments service is active. One more step in connecting Africa to the world.
Smart cities innovation programme
31 African tech startups have been selected to take part in the Smart Cities Innovation Programme. Startups will receive mentorship, training, and will enter the Smart City ecosystem, with the overall goal being African urban transformation in line with the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the UN.
The 6 month programme is a collaboration between the Rwandan Ministry of ICT and Innovation and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), or for those who don’t speak German, The German Development Agency. It’s currently focussed on three key areas, namely, Fintech, Mobility, and Cleantech & Smart Housing.
Some of the startups in the programme include, Cofundie (who we covered recently in our “Proptech on the rise” article), Mazi Mobility, Instadriver, Basigo, Koolboks and Dove Air.
In the news 🚀
🇹🇳 Tunisian data management and analysis startup, Biware, has raised a $1.2 million seed funding round to help it grow its team and launch new branches.
🇳🇬 Nigerian crypto startup, Bitmama, has closed a $350K pre-seed funding round to help it expand into new markets.
🇳🇬 Nigerian B2B payments platform, Verto, has raised a $10 million Series A round to boost its geographical expansion.