Nigerian tech company Startbutton, South African entrepreneur Zazu, and twenty other participants acknowledged their acceptance into the 4th Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program.
Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator Announces Fifth Cohort
Visa, the global leader in digital payments, has announced the fifth cohort of its Africa Fintech Accelerator program. This initiative, designed to support early-stage fintech companies, has seen significant growth since its inception in 2023, spanning 17 countries and operating in 31, as per the latest report.
The program, which focuses on SMB digitisation, lending, cross-border payments, payroll, B2B payments, AI-powered transactions, social commerce, climate insurance, and neo-banking, has accelerated 64 fintechs across three cohorts. Notably, nearly two-thirds (62%) of the startups included women on their leadership teams.
This year's cohort includes 21 startups, each selected through a rigorous application process involving two rounds: an initial screening to evaluate alignment and market traction, followed by virtual interviews for shortlisted applicants. Eligible startups must be Seed to Series A stage with a minimum viable product (MVP) or market-ready solution, operating in Africa.
The selected startups are based in 12 countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Uganda, Mauritius, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Botswana, Ivory Coast, and South Africa. Some of the notable startups in this cohort include:
- VisaPay (Kenya): A blockchain-powered digital payments solution provider.
- Zazu (South Africa): A neobank for African small and medium-sized businesses, offering digital business accounts, expense management, invoicing, and bookkeeping tools in one platform.
- ShopOkoa (Kenya): An AI-driven credit and payment solution provider for small- and micro-enterprises.
- Muda (Kenya): A digital asset exchange and OTC platform focused on cross-border payments and stablecoin liquidity solutions.
- Mystocks.africa (Botswana): A platform simplifying investing across African stock markets.
- Maishapay (DRC): An all-in-one B2B financial platform for payroll solutions, digital payments, and POS terminals.
- ChatCash (Zimbabwe): A service enabling African SMEs to sell and get paid through popular messaging apps.
- Woliz (Morocco): A solution transforming nano-stores into digital hubs with loyalty rewards, payments, and AI-driven operations.
The program lasts 12 weeks in a hybrid format, including onboarding, virtual focus weeks, investor week, and an in-person Demo Day. Participants will benefit from valuable mentorship, tailored training, access to Visa’s technology tools, opportunities for strategic investment, and exposure to regional and global investors at Demo Day. Additionally, they will receive product perks from over 100 tech vendors valued at more than $200,000.
The application deadline for the fifth cohort is August 15, 2025. After the virtual interviews, selected applicants will be invited to join the full program. Visa has pledged $1 billion by 2027 to transform the payments ecosystem in Africa.
[1] Source: Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator website [2] Source: TechCrunch article on Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator [3] Source: African Business Magazine article on Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator [4] Source: Financial Technology Today article on Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator [5] Source: Business Insider Africa article on Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator
The fifth cohort of Visa's Africa Fintech Accelerator program, focused on businesses, includes startups that are involved in various aspects of finance and technology, such as VisaPay, a blockchain-powered digital payments solution provider, and Mystocks.africa, a platform simplifying investing across African stock markets. This program, running till August 15, 2025, offers selected startups valuable mentorship, tailored training, access to Visa’s technology tools, opportunities for strategic investment, and exposure to regional and global investors. These benefits are designed to support early-stage fintech companies in areas like SMB digitization, lending, cross-border payments, payroll, B2B payments, AI-powered transactions, social commerce, climate insurance, and neo-banking.
