Launch Africa Ventures

Launch Africa Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2020 and based in Ebene, Mauritius, that funds early-stage startups across Africa, focusing on seed and pre-Series A opportunities. It seeks investments across fintech, healthtech, climate tech, agritech, edtech, transportation and logistics, mobility, e-commerce, software as a service, artificial intelligence, big data, and analytics.

Janade Du Plessis

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Mohamed Karar

Venture Partner F1 and F2

Michael Mutie

VC Associate

Janade Plessis Ph.D

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Baljinder Sharma

Board Member and Member of the Investment Committee

Past deals in Payments

Happy Pay

Pre Seed Round in 2024
Happy Pay is a company focused on developing a credit scoring system that offers consumers a responsible alternative to traditional credit options. It operates a Buy Now Pay Later platform that allows users to make purchases and pay for them over time. To enhance the shopping experience, Happy Pay integrates an autonomous artificial intelligence technology system with merchants' platforms, aiming to increase their average basket size and improve customer conversion rates. By leveraging this innovative technology, Happy Pay seeks to provide a seamless and efficient service that benefits both consumers and merchants.

Cauri Money

Seed Round in 2024
Cauri Money is a financial services provider offering users the ability to exchange, save, manage, and send money. It features a wallet with a BG IBAN, peer-to-peer payment capabilities, virtual and physical Mastercards, and dedicated financial supervision.

Kredete

Seed Round in 2024
Kredete is a fintech platform serving African immigrants and global businesses in North America. It offers competitive foreign exchange rates, low-fee remittances to over 20 countries, and digital banking services, aiming to boost users' credit scores.

BFree

Seed Round in 2024
BFree is a company that specializes in credit management, aiming to enhance the credit collection process through innovative technology. It develops a platform that utilizes artificial intelligence to create ethical credit management tools, prioritizing the financial health of consumers. BFree's approach is centered on helping customers regain control over their finances by facilitating self-administered loan repayments. The company focuses on making the collection process more scalable, efficient, and user-friendly, particularly for individuals in emerging markets. By equipping users with essential financial knowledge and personal budgeting skills, BFree strives to lead customers out of debt sustainably.

Balad

Pre Seed Round in 2023
Balad is an open banking platform that serves migrant communities worldwide. It offers cross-border remittance services, mobile banking apps, and prepaid debit cards to connect migrants abroad with their family members at home.

Peach Payments

Series A in 2023
Peach Payments is a company that specializes in providing payment solutions for online and mobile businesses, facilitating the acceptance of payments from consumers worldwide, with a strong emphasis on emerging markets, particularly in Africa and the BRIC countries. The company has developed an online payment platform that offers a variety of electronic payment services. This platform features a well-documented API for easy integration, allows payment collection through email and SMS, and includes secure tokenization for storing card data. Additionally, it enhances user experience by enabling one-click checkouts, ensuring a safe and efficient transaction process across all digital channels.

WorkPay Technologies

Seed Round in 2023
Founded in 2017, WorkPay Technologies offers a cloud-based platform for managing payroll, benefits, HR, and employee self-service needs. Its solution caters to small and medium-sized businesses across Africa.

Kredibank

Seed Round in 2022
Kredi is a neo bank building Africa's one-stop shop for digital financial services. Kredi is a platform that eliminates all the challenges of using multiple applications and allows users to manage all aspects of their financial lives. We are fully licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. We provide access to digital financial services such as savings, credit, payment, investments, and insurance to all consumers in Nigeria in one place.

Jem

Seed Round in 2022
SmartWage Pty Ltd. is a financial technology company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, that provides innovative payday solutions aimed at enhancing financial wellness for employees. Founded in 2019, SmartWage offers services that allow employees to track their earnings and access their earned salaries on demand. The company also provides salary-packaging administration services to both employers and employees, making it one of the most affordable and accessible options in the South African market. Through its offerings, SmartWage seeks to improve the overall financial well-being of individuals by enabling timely access to earned wages.

Djamo

Venture Round in 2022
Djamo is a fintech company offering a mobile application that enables users to use their cards fee-free across various services. The app provides free physical and virtual cards, automatic savings features, salary reception options, expense tracking, and withdrawal controls.

Kashat

Convertible Note in 2022
Kashat is an Egypt-based mobile financial services company that provides instant microloans through a digital app. It targets unbanked and underbanked individuals by underwriting loans using alternative data to create a credit history, enabling customers to build a financial identity. The service offers small, short-term credit with flexible repayment options and disburses funds via mobile wallets and digital payments. The entire process is digital and paperless, streamlining application and approval through the mobile app. Kashat operates under the regulatory oversight of Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority.

Bitmama

Pre Seed Round in 2022
Bitmama facilitates trading of Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, and other digital assets in Africa. Users can create wallets, connect bank accounts or mobile money services to buy or sell cryptocurrencies.

Zazuu

Seed Round in 2022
Zazuu is a fintech company that provides a platform for sending money across borders, specifically aimed at making remittances more equitable for Africans. The application enables users to search and compare various reputable money transfer providers, ensuring they find the best deals and save money on each transaction. Additionally, Zazuu allows customers to manage multiple currencies, enhancing the flexibility and convenience of cross-border money transfers.

WorkPay Technologies

Seed Round in 2022
Founded in 2017, WorkPay Technologies offers a cloud-based platform for managing payroll, benefits, HR, and employee self-service needs. Its solution caters to small and medium-sized businesses across Africa.

Spark

Venture Round in 2022
Spark is a fintech company that offers a payment application enabling users to chat with contacts during purchases, manage joint accounts, and access transaction records. The platform focuses on group purchasing, allowing users to order food and household items together and receive discounts on essential products.

PayQin

Venture Round in 2022
Founded in London in 2017, PayQin operates an e-wallet platform with a mobile application featuring a built-in virtual debit card for online payments. It specializes in facilitating cross-border payments for individuals and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), offering low fees, real-time processing, and a user-friendly experience.

Cauri Money

Pre Seed Round in 2022
Cauri Money is a financial services provider offering users the ability to exchange, save, manage, and send money. It features a wallet with a BG IBAN, peer-to-peer payment capabilities, virtual and physical Mastercards, and dedicated financial supervision.

Fleri

Venture Round in 2022
Fleri is a social impact fintech company based in Columbus, Ohio, focused on improving the financial remittance process for immigrants. Its primary offering, FleriHealth, allows immigrants to directly arrange and pay for healthcare services for their loved ones in their home countries. This innovative platform eliminates the need for traditional money transfers by providing access to quality healthcare through dedicated family care managers and assigned primary care doctors. Fleri aims to ensure that the funds sent by immigrants are used transparently and effectively for healthcare needs, offering peace of mind to those in the diaspora.

Happy Pay

Venture Round in 2022
Happy Pay is a company focused on developing a credit scoring system that offers consumers a responsible alternative to traditional credit options. It operates a Buy Now Pay Later platform that allows users to make purchases and pay for them over time. To enhance the shopping experience, Happy Pay integrates an autonomous artificial intelligence technology system with merchants' platforms, aiming to increase their average basket size and improve customer conversion rates. By leveraging this innovative technology, Happy Pay seeks to provide a seamless and efficient service that benefits both consumers and merchants.

Credrails

Seed Round in 2022
Credrails provides infrastructure that unifies bank, mobile money, and offline data through a single API, enabling fintech developers and financial institutions to build interoperable services. The platform supports open banking rails by connecting banks and other financial data sources into one programmable interface, facilitating movement of money across multiple channels and African markets.

Bloom

Pre Seed Round in 2022
Bloom is a financial technology company that provides a secure wallet hub for trading tokens and NFTs, enabling users to discover new decentralized applications and optimize their DeFi investments. The platform is described as offering innovative, fair, responsible and inclusive financial products, aimed at widening access to digital finance while simplifying crypto activity for a broad user base.

Maxicash

Venture Round in 2022
Maxicash is a developer of a payment and remittance application designed for diaspora members to support their loved ones back home financially. The company's application is a financial support ecosystem to cater to untapped markets, enabling users to send money, buy electronic vouchers, buy airtime vouchers, pay for schools and hospitals, and also donate money to churches and NGOs.

Ceviant

Venture Round in 2022
Ceviant Finance specializes in cloud-based treasury and payment automation solutions. The company provides a comprehensive platform designed to enhance cash and treasury management for businesses. Its offerings include services such as cash liquidity management, virtual accounts, receivables management, electronic invoicing, and working capital loans aimed at facilitating international trade. By enabling businesses to manage multiple bank accounts and centralize their payment processes, Ceviant Finance helps streamline financial operations and improve efficiency in cash forecasting and trade financing.

WayaMoney

Venture Round in 2022
WayaMoney is a digital banking platform that specializes in providing payment and money transfer solutions across Africa. The platform enables users to send and receive payments instantly and seamlessly, catering to both individuals and businesses. WayaMoney facilitates a range of services, including payments for utility bills, digital satellite television subscriptions, online purchases, and airline ticket bookings. By offering low-cost money transfers, WayaMoney addresses the needs of an increasingly unbanked population and supports small and medium-sized enterprises engaging in cross-border trade. The company's goal is to simplify payment processes and enhance financial inclusion throughout the continent.

Cauri Money

Venture Round in 2021
Cauri Money is a financial services provider offering users the ability to exchange, save, manage, and send money. It features a wallet with a BG IBAN, peer-to-peer payment capabilities, virtual and physical Mastercards, and dedicated financial supervision.

Stax

Seed Round in 2021
Stax is all of your bank accounts, mobile wallets, crypto in a single app that works without mobile data.

Kalpay

Venture Round in 2021
Kalpay operates a mobile payment platform that enables users to scan, transfer money, pay bills, and purchase phone credit via a secure electronic wallet. It offers financial institutions, merchants, and businesses digital payment solutions for sending and receiving payments online.

Fingo Africa

Venture Round in 2021
Fingo Africa is a fintech startup that offers a digital banking platform aimed at young customers. The service includes current accounts, real‑time money transfers, bill and utility payments, link‑based payments, and savings goal tools. The platform enables users to send money to friends, family, or businesses through a mobile interface, providing a convenient and comprehensive digital banking experience.

Kashat

Convertible Note in 2021
Kashat is an Egypt-based mobile financial services company that provides instant microloans through a digital app. It targets unbanked and underbanked individuals by underwriting loans using alternative data to create a credit history, enabling customers to build a financial identity. The service offers small, short-term credit with flexible repayment options and disburses funds via mobile wallets and digital payments. The entire process is digital and paperless, streamlining application and approval through the mobile app. Kashat operates under the regulatory oversight of Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority.

Fingo Africa

Seed Round in 2021
Fingo Africa is a fintech startup that offers a digital banking platform aimed at young customers. The service includes current accounts, real‑time money transfers, bill and utility payments, link‑based payments, and savings goal tools. The platform enables users to send money to friends, family, or businesses through a mobile interface, providing a convenient and comprehensive digital banking experience.

Zazuu

Seed Round in 2021
Zazuu is a fintech company that provides a platform for sending money across borders, specifically aimed at making remittances more equitable for Africans. The application enables users to search and compare various reputable money transfer providers, ensuring they find the best deals and save money on each transaction. Additionally, Zazuu allows customers to manage multiple currencies, enhancing the flexibility and convenience of cross-border money transfers.

Julaya

Series A in 2021
Julaya is a fintech company empowering African businesses with digital financial solutions. It offers services such as mobile money transactions for employees and suppliers, virtual and physical prepaid cards, utility bill payments, and access to digital loans.

Boya

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Boya develops a mobile application that allows users to add cards to their phones and pay directly from the application. They enable the user to create a virtual card that can be loaded with e-cash and helps to manage the expenses on a single dashboard.

BFree

Seed Round in 2021
BFree is a company that specializes in credit management, aiming to enhance the credit collection process through innovative technology. It develops a platform that utilizes artificial intelligence to create ethical credit management tools, prioritizing the financial health of consumers. BFree's approach is centered on helping customers regain control over their finances by facilitating self-administered loan repayments. The company focuses on making the collection process more scalable, efficient, and user-friendly, particularly for individuals in emerging markets. By equipping users with essential financial knowledge and personal budgeting skills, BFree strives to lead customers out of debt sustainably.

Peach Payments

Venture Round in 2021
Peach Payments is a company that specializes in providing payment solutions for online and mobile businesses, facilitating the acceptance of payments from consumers worldwide, with a strong emphasis on emerging markets, particularly in Africa and the BRIC countries. The company has developed an online payment platform that offers a variety of electronic payment services. This platform features a well-documented API for easy integration, allows payment collection through email and SMS, and includes secure tokenization for storing card data. Additionally, it enhances user experience by enabling one-click checkouts, ensuring a safe and efficient transaction process across all digital channels.

Afriex

Seed Round in 2021
Afriex Inc. is a mobile payment application developer based in Oakland, California, specializing in overseas money transfer services. Founded in 2019, the company offers a digital wallet application that allows users to send and receive money globally, utilizing stablecoins to ensure fast and cost-effective remittance solutions. Afriex supports transactions to over 30 countries, enabling users to make payments and manage their finances more efficiently at current exchange rates, while also providing various withdrawal options to enhance the user experience.

FinAccess

Seed Round in 2021
FinAccess provides a cloud-based core banking platform and related services for microfinance institutions in growth markets. Its software enables MFIs to send personalized payment reminders, manage arrears, issue transaction notifications, and deliver marketing messages, while generating detailed reports and supporting debit card issuing. The platform integrates with third-party mobile money providers and offers end-to-end IT services—from concept and deployment to ongoing maintenance—to help microfinance institutions reduce costs, improve efficiency, and scale operations, particularly for rural populations. FinAccess is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Kaoun

Seed Round in 2021
Kaoun is a software platform dedicated to promoting financial inclusion. It offers electronic identification, payment, and credit-related services to transform traditional financial systems sustainably.
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