Today Africa Weekly: Tech news recap | September 15 – 21, 2025

September 22, 2025

Today Africa Weekly: Tech news recap | September 15 – 21, 2025

I’m starting to think African fintech founders have a secret WhatsApp group where they decide who gets funded each week.

Because honestly, how else do you explain Kredete casually bagging $22 million while the rest of us are still figuring out how to stretch data subscriptions till month-end?

Anyway, whether it’s big fintech cheques, solar-powered irrigation getting a climate boost, or crypto drama starring Nigeria and a deleted Kenyan tweet, last week (September 15 – 21, 2025) didn’t disappoint.

Let’s catch you up.

African tech news highlights

6 startups share $400k funding from FINCA Ventures Prize competition

Six African startups have won a total of US$400,000 in the 2025 FINCA Ventures Prize, which spotlights innovations in fintech for financial inclusion and climate-smart agriculture. The competition drew over 300 applicants, with Farmer Lifeline Technologies and truQ taking first place and US$100,000 each. Silo Africa and Cladfy secured second place with US$60,000 each, while Karpolax and 10mg Health earned US$40,000 each in third place.

Rekindle acquires fellow ed-tech EpiTek to expand scope

South African ed-tech company Rekindle Learning has acquired Cape Town-based SaaS startup EpiTek for an undisclosed sum, creating a new platform called Rekindle EpiTek. Rekindle, founded in 2014, focuses on enterprise upskilling, while EpiTek, launched in 2021, builds white-label online education platforms. The combined platform integrates live classrooms, AI-invigilated assessments, and analytics to support accredited and non-accredited training programmes across Africa.

AGF, Visa Foundation to channel $2m grant funding to women-owned businesses

The Visa Foundation is partnering with the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) to expand the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) Guarantee for Growth programme, which tackles barriers women entrepreneurs face in accessing capital. The initiative combines loan guarantees with technical assistance to boost lending, build capacity, and drive job creation and business resilience across the continent.

Affinity Africa launches “Boost” service to help users earn interest on savings

Ghanaian fintech startup Affinity Africa has introduced Affinity Boost, a goal-based savings account that lets users earn competitive interest while saving toward personal or business goals. Founded in 2022 by Tarek Mouganie, Affinity is a fully regulated digital banking platform serving individuals and MSMEs with accounts, savings, payments, transfers, investments, and loans.

MoneyHash partners Saudi’s noon to accelerate payment across MEA

Egypt’s MoneyHash, the leading payment orchestration platform operating in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), has partnered with Saudi Arabia’s noon payments, a trusted comprehensive digital payment gateway, to streamline access to localised payment methods across the GCC.

Read Last Week’s Edition Here

Key funding rounds (September 15 – 21, 2025)

Kredete: $22M Series A (Nigeria/Global expansion)

Sector: Fintech (credit-building & cross-border payments)
Lead investor(s): AfricInvest (via CAIF & FIVE), Partech, Polymorphic Capital
Why it matters: Tackles financial exclusion of African immigrants by merging remittances, stablecoin payments, and credit-building infrastructure.

Kredete, founded in 2023 by Adeola Adedewe, helps African immigrants build credit while sending money across 30+ African countries. Its platform integrates remittances with a proprietary credit engine and API-based cross-border payment rails. The fresh funding will power expansion into Canada, the UK, and Europe, while introducing Africa’s first stablecoin-backed credit card, rent reporting, credit-linked savings, and goal-based loans.

SunCulture: $5M (Kenya)

Sector: Solar-powered irrigation & agtech
Lead investor(s): WaterEquity (via its new Water & Climate Resilience Fund)
Why it matters: Expands affordable solar-powered water access for smallholder farmers, improving food security, climate resilience, and household water reliability in rural Africa.

Kenya’s SunCulture, the market leader in smallholder farmer solar irrigation systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, secured a $5 million investment from WaterEquity. The funding follows an oversubscribed $27.5 million Series B in April 2024 and will support scaling of its solar-powered irrigation pumps and household water solutions.

Farid Academy – $1.2M Strategic Partnership (Saudi Arabia)

Sector: Ed-tech (character building, youth development)
Lead partner(s): Amad Association for Human Capacity Development
Why it matters: Marks Farid’s first regional expansion beyond Egypt, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals for youth empowerment and human capital development.

Egyptian ed-tech startup Farid, founded in 2024 by Mahmoud Hussein, has expanded into Saudi Arabia with a three-year, $1.2M (SAR4.5M) partnership. The deal will certify 500 Saudi graduates as trainers and deliver specialised educational programmes to 4,000+ children and adolescents.

Trends to watch (September 15 – 21, 2025)

Fintech & credit infrastructure remain the go-to for growth capital: Larger rounds continue to concentrate in fintech — especially players building credit primitives, rails, and cross-border payment solutions. Kredete’s $22M Series A underlines investor appetite for scalable credit infrastructure across African corridors.
Climate tech / productive-use energy attracts impact capital: Investors with blended-finance or impact mandates are funding solar irrigation, off-grid power and agri-tech solutions that have clear social returns, as SunCulture’s $5M financing shows. Expect more project finance and blended instruments here.
Cross-regional partnerships and MENA-Africa linkages: Partnerships and training deals (e.g., Farid’s Saudi expansion) highlight rising commercial ties between North Africa/Middle East and Sub-Saharan markets — an underappreciated route for expansion beyond Anglophone corridors.
Continued regulatory and reputational sensitivity around crypto: Weeks with political endorsements or shifting tax stances quickly create market noise — founders in crypto/payment spaces must plan for both regulatory contingency and PR risk mitigation. The Kenya Token episode and Nigeria’s crypto tax headlines illustrate this.

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