Africa's fintech sector is experiencing robust growth, with fintech companies claiming nearly half of all start-up investments in 2024 and contributing significantly to the continent's nine unicorns. Following the addition of Moniepoint and TymeBank as new unicorns in 2024, the outlook for African fintech in 2025 remains highly optimistic. Several companies are poised for significant achievements, with a list of eleven fintechs particularly worth watching due to their innovative solutions, impressive growth, and strategic market positioning.

Leading the pack of fintechs to watch is **M-Kopa**, a company that generated approximately $400 million in annual revenue and serves 5 million underbanked Africans. With a robust 30,000-strong sales team, M-Kopa offers smartphones and other essential 'productive assets' through flexible digital micropayments, capitalizing on Africa's 24% smartphone market growth in Q1 2024 by enhancing accessibility.

**Moove**, an Uber-backed African mobility fintech, is another key player. Valued at $750 million with $115 million in annual revenue, Moove provides vehicle financing to over 20,000 ride-hailing and delivery app drivers. Its ability to scale globally across at least four continents and form strategic partnerships, such as with Uber, highlights its potential in addressing the critical need for vehicle affordability among mobility app users.

**Nala** stands out as one of the few rapidly growing and profitable fintechs. Initially focusing on consumer remittances, Nala enabled users in the E.U., U.K., and U.S. to send money across 249 banks and 26 mobile money services in 11 African markets. In 2024, it expanded into B2B payments with Rafiki, a platform allowing global companies to make reliable payouts across Africa. This strategic move positions Nala uniquely in the remittance market, which sees nearly $100 billion in annual flows to Africa.

**LemFI** also plays a significant role in the remittance space, helping diaspora communities in North America and Europe send money to emerging markets across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. With over $2 billion in annual transaction volume in 2023 and currently processing $1 billion in monthly payments, LemFI demonstrates strong execution capacity in a market growing at a 10% long-term CAGR.

**Yellow Card** is set to be a key player in the stablecoin sector for powering payments in Africa, aiming for cheaper and more reliable transactions. Having operated in this space for over eight years and scaled to over 1 million African consumers, Yellow Card is now focusing on B2B payments, already working with 30,000 businesses and processing $3 billion annually.

**Selcom**, Tanzania’s largest payments company with 23 years of experience and over 100,000 merchants and agents, acquired a bank in 2024 and is piloting Selcom Pesa, Tanzania’s first Neo Bank. Its extensive integrations for financial services, coupled with strategic opportunities like powering payouts for companies such as LemFI, underscore its potential in 2025.

**Rise**, a Nigerian fintech, assists over 600,000 Africans in making global investments. Its strategic acquisitions, including Chaka in Nigeria (2023) and Hisa in Kenya (2024), demonstrate its aggressive growth strategy and ability to integrate competitors, making it a noteworthy platform for investment in Africa.

**Grey** addresses a crucial need for the remote African workforce by helping them secure bank accounts in the UK, EUR, and US without physical presence. With over 1 million freelancers registered on its platform, Grey is tapping into the immense demand for global banking solutions for Africans powering the world’s digital economy.

**Miden** is a Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) fintech, building platforms that enable any African company to embed fintech features and financial services, while providing necessary infrastructure and ensuring compliance. Backed by Y-Combinator in 2024, Miden has issued over 100,000 cards and is led by ex-bankers with deep technological understanding, positioning it for strong performance.

**Mono**, another Y-Combinator-backed fintech, started with open banking and has evolved to offer payments powered by its infrastructure. Its product OWO, launched in 2024, facilitates faster payments on WhatsApp, leveraging the significant potential of well-executed WhatsApp-based solutions for scalability.

Finally, **Swahilies**, a Tanzanian company, initially an e-commerce installment platform, pivoted in late 2022 to an app helping SMEs record transactions, manage inventory, and build credit scores for financial access. Operating in Tanzania with plans to expand to Zambia through a partnership with SPENN, Swahilies boasts over 10,000 SMEs and is actively closing a funding round, demonstrating its commitment to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. This article was originally published on Finetech Africa.