Cross-Continental African Tech Ventures – Africa.com | Global News Avenue

Eric Obixn

On January 29, 2025, Nigerian remittance fintech Lemfi announced the acquisition of Irish currency exchange platform Buttercrane to conduct strategic initiatives to expand its services in Europe. The deal, approved by the Central Bank of Ireland, allows Lemfi to grant Ireland licenses, allowing it to operate in the European Economic Area (EEA).¹ This is not the first time that Lemfi has entered the European market. In 2021, the company obtained a UK license through the acquisition of RightCard, which was founded in 2014. Lemfi also partnered with Dutch company Modulr Finance to start operations in Europe while awaiting approval from Irish regulators. With this new license, Lemfi can now seamlessly expand throughout Europe using a system called a “passport” that enables financial institutions to operate in EEA member states outside their major licensed countries.

Lemfi is one of the poster kids of a new generation of transcontinental African tech businesses founded by entrepreneurs who dream of global influence and domination. Conquering Africa is not enough for new kids on the street. They ignore old stereotypes and see themselves among global entrepreneurs of the same class who have built the world’s Uber, Airbnbs, Facebook, Glovos, and more. Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran co-founded Lemfi during Covid in 2020 with the goal of becoming a key player in the remittance markets in emerging economies in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The company now has over 1 million active users. In mid-January, Lemfi raised $53 million in the Series B funding round.

Lemfi founder in technology crunch report

Nigerian liquidity fintech (Moove) is another poster kid, acquiring Brazilian car rental startup Kovi, an important step in its expansion to Latin America. The strategic acquisition strengthens Moff’s global reach as it continues to expand its vehicle financing and fleet management services.² The completion of KOVI takeover will be approved by the Brazilian Antitrust Authority. Kovi will continue to operate under its existing brand name, and its execution and management teams will remain the same. Moove is also founded in 2020 by two transcontinental founders Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, which positions itself as a key player in the global mobile market by providing vehicle financing solutions for driving to your own products as well as taxi and self-driving car services. The company raised $100 million in a Series B financing round last year, with the acquisition now owning a global fleet of 36,000 vehicles with an annual revenue of $275 million and operating in 19 cities across six continents. Moove has also expanded to the U.S. through a recently announced partnership with Google’s self-driving car subsidiary Waymo.

Founder of Move, Founder of Kovi

Flutterwave is the third example, with a significant increase in its global reach, with 48% of businesses using their platform to receive payments from new geographic locations, up 12% from 2023. Starting from 2023, Iyinoluwa aboyeji, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Olugbenga Agboola, Olugboola Agboola and Adeleke Adekoya and Adeleke Adekoya as well as the headquarters of US and certain ranges of Nierveria. The company has expanded its operations to Canada, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Kenya and Mozambique and has provided it in total in over 35 countries. Additionally, FlutterWave now supports over 150 currencies, providing seamless cross-border transactions for its users. Flutterwave achieved a significant milestone in the U.S., obtaining 31 additional remittance licenses and launching the Send App in 49 states. These developments have enhanced its ability to serve African diaspora and global clients.³

In 2023, Asaak Uganda Fintech entered Mexico through its acquisition of a subsidiary of FlexClub, which provides drivers with travel financing and auto loans. Founded in 2016, Asaak offers motorcycle and smartphone loans to Ugandans and partners such as Safeboda alone. CEO and founder Kaivan Sattar said after Uganda bought the back of the motorcycle (motorcycle taxi) driver’s motorcycle (motorcycle taxi) driver’s motorcycle, CEO and founder Kaivan Sattar said.⁴

In February 2021, South Africa’s digital bank Tymebank entered the Philippines through a partnership with Gokongwei Group/JG Summit Holdings. This is announcing its $110 million Series B capital raising funds starting in the Philippines.⁵

In January 2020, Nigeria’s most important fintech Paga, a mobile money service provider, announced the acquisition of its Ethiopian partner Appposit to enter the Ethiopian market and announced the expansion of its services to Mexico that year.⁶ This represents the simultaneous expansion to other parts of Africa and Latin America. The moves come more than a year after Paga raised $10 million in the B round.⁷

Afridigest Intelligence’s Emeka Ajene describes the phenomenon of African tech companies that extends to the global south as an “emerging market to emerging markets” expansion (E2E). Emeka believes that the old expansion model entering other African markets is making this new model for the expansion to the global south and to some extent the rest of the world.⁸

The new Cross Controlentaltent extension model is not a one-way street, it is all over the place along both directions. An equally exciting phenomenon is that Latin American tech companies have expanded to Africa over the past five years. When Uruguay’s fintech announced its expansion to Dlocal in Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon and Senegal in 2020, expansion head Adebiyi Aromolaran called Africa a “huge unexplored e-commerce opportunity”, “huge growth potential” with penetration below 40%. When Brazil’s Ebanx announced its entry in Africa last September, CEO and co-founder João Del Valle noted that the decision was backed by the fact that “Africa’s fast-growing digital economy is only in the early stages and is expected to grow in the coming decades and in the coming decades. ”⁹

This cross-continental E2E expansion model will provide opportunities for Savy founders from Africa and elsewhere to expand their global footprint and attract new consumers around the world.