Two African fintech startups just got $50k in funding from Village Capital

Authors:

folarin okunola

May 2, 2017 3:03 PM

Piggybank and Olivine were chosen via a peer selection system after a 3-month investment readiness program.

Joshua Chibueze, Co-Founder of Piggybank.ng

Nigeria’s Piggybank.ng and Kenya’s Olivine Technology are the two African fintech startups that have each received $50,000 for emerging as winners in Village Capital’s Fintech Africa business development programme.

Piggybank and Olivine were chosen via a peer selection system after a 3-month investment readiness program organised in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation and the DOEN Foundation, with Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A) providing platform support.

Olivine Technology, founded in 2010, specializes in the designing and developing automated data capturing solutions that integrate with third-party solutions such as Quickbooks, Sage Evolution, SAP Business 1, SPSS, and Mpesa.

Piggybank automates the process of saving tiny amounts daily, weekly or monthly; and then allowing to withdraw for free on only set withdrawal dates.

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“We have seen growing financial access in Africa over the last several years, but growing access does not necessarily mean growing financial inclusion,” said Village Capital CEO Ross Baird, according to Asoko Insight.

“There is a real lack of savings, credit, and investment solutions that work for women, youth, farmers, small businesses, and other underserved communities. After witnessing the progress of the FinTech Africa 2017 cohort companies over the past several months, we’re even more excited about their potential to expand financial inclusion in the communities they serve.”

Village Capital has invested over $300,000 in 11 companies in Africa so far with those companies going on to secure over $5.5 million in follow-on funding, excluding grants and awards.

Congrats to the winners!

Authors:

folarin okunola