Transsion’s VC Fund Makes First Investment in an African Fintech Start-Up; the Chinese-owned Opera Mobile Browser Well Positioned to Capitalize on Financial Services

International interest in Africa’s burgeoning fintech sector dropped considerably in the first half of the year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic but now we’re starting to see some of the first signs of interest from Chinese VCs and other investors.

Renewed Chinese Interest in the African Fintech Market

  • FUTURE HUB: Transsion’s venture arm Future Hub participated in a seed round with the Kenya/Singaporean fintech start-up Wapipay, a back-end payment solution service focused on Africa-Asia transactions. This is FutureHub’s first investment in an African fintech company. (TECH IN AFRICA)
  • OPERA: The popular Chinese-owned mobile browser Opera and its wide array of mobile services (OPay, ORide, OMall) positioned the company to take advantage of the burgeoning mobile payment and fintech opportunities in Africa, according to a new research note from TNG Investment Management. (SEEKING ALPHA)

IN OTHER TECH NEWS… Rain, the mobile data-only network provider in South Africa, announced that it is working with Huawei to deploy new 5G towers throughout the country. (FINANCIAL WORLD)

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by Eric Olander

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