- Minka, a Colombian cloud-based fintech startup, has announced plans to expand operations in Africa.
- The first phase of this expansion plan will see the company setting up shops in Eastern and Southern African countries.
- On Tuesday, July 2, 2024, Minka launched in East Africa, kicking off business in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia, with plans to enter Southern African markets in Mozambique, Zambia, and Malawi.
The fintech says it’ll drive its initial focus on Eastern and Southern Africa following its success footprints in Latin America, where it plugs the gaps between central banks, banks, other financial institutions, and clearing houses online through shared and connected ledgers.
Founded in 2016 in Bogota, Colombia, Minka raised $24 million in 2022 in a Series A funding round, with investments from Tiger Global Management, Kaszec Ventures, and the FinTech Collective.
The entrance of Minka, which builds payment networks that allow people to send money between participating banks and other financial institutions, in Africa follows a trend of Latin American fintech companies making inroads into the continent to capitalise on its growing digital payments market.
In 2022, for example, EBANX — a Brazilian payment company — launched in 11 African countries.
About a year later, dLocal, a Uruguayan financial technology company, secured payment service provider licences from the Central Bank of Kenya and the National Bank of Rwanda, shortly after getting a similar licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Explaining why Minka decided to play in the African market, Domagoj Rozic, the fintech CEO, said doing so shows how serious they are about their mission to build more efficient payment infrastructures across the Global South.
“Low levels of financial inclusion, a heavy reliance on cash, and non-interoperable legacy payment systems are just a few of the issues our team in Latin America have successfully overcome and we believe it is our duty to continue creating solutions that benefit society,” Rozic added.
In addition to the continent’s rapidly growing and highly competitive fintech space, Minka is also counting on the demographic similarities between Latin America, its home market, and Africa.
Source
techpoint.africa
