Nigerian fintech startup Toju is providing alternative credit-scoring for the unbanked, having developed a record management platform for local savings clubs, thrift collectors, microfinance institutions and cooperatives.
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) financial institutions have significantly ramped up their adoption of fintech in recent years. Lockdowns, social distancing and the need for e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic pushed 40 million Latin Americans to enroll in banks and enabled them to use digital finance channels, e-commerce or credit for the first time in their lives.
Ghanaian start-up Kaazi has launched the public beta of its football talent identification and recruitment platform, which will be available to all football players in Africa. Founded in July by Nana Yaw Oppong-Mensah, a former football player, coach and scout, Kaazi is a web-based platform that allows football players to build their own profiles by adding videos and match highlights to showcase their talent directly to scouts and professional football clubs.
We have a full pouch of stories about Australian companies but our Emerging Markets editor has threatened bodily harm if I poach them. I can sneak in Aussie-born ecommerce personalization vendor Rokt, because it’s now based in New York. They’ve completed a secondary funding at a valuation of $2.4 billion, one year after a $325 million Series E at $1.95 billion. Not bad in a down year for tech stocks.