- Visa announced that applications are open for its latest Africa Fintech Accelerator.
- It is calling for applicant to be part of its fifth cohort.
- The Accelerator is a 12-week program designed to help finance startups fast-track.
If you are an African fintech, you will be interested to know about the latest iteration of a longstanding initiative from Visa.
The financial services provider has announced that applications are open for the fifth cohort of its Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator. For those unfamilar, it is a 12-week intensive program designed to help startups fast-track their growth and impact.
Fintechs with a minimum viable product (MVP) or a market-ready solution based in South Africa are invited to apply before 15th August 2025, the organisation outlined.
“The Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator offers Africa-focused startups mentorship, tailored training, networking, and access to funding and resources, helping them advance in the fintech sector. This initiative is part of Visa’s continued commitment to advancing Africa’s digital economy, and the company’s pledge of R17 billion by 2027 to transform the payments ecosystem,” shared Visa in a release with Hypertext.
Unpacking some recent milestones, Visa pointed out that since its inception in 2023, the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program has assisted 64 fintechs across three previous cohorts, with an estimated cumulative portfolio value of R19 billion.
In the first three cohorts, participation has spanned 17 countries with operational footprint in 31 countries. As August is Women’s Month in South Africa, Visa also highlighted that an estimated 62 percent of the startups included women on their leadership teams.
“Collectively, these fintechs have added more than R54 million in revenue during the course of the training, and alumni have subsequently raised more than R980 million following completion of the program,” Visa added.
For the fourth cohort, 22 fintechs have been chosen, spanning 12 countries, with one selected from South Africa in Zazu.
“These startups aim is to tackle challenges in Africa’s fintech sector and promote financial inclusion and digital growth. They provide solutions in Small and Medium Business (SMB) digitization, lending, cross-border payments, payroll, business-to-business (B2B) payments, AI-powered payments, social commerce, climate insurance, and neo-banking,” explained Visa.
“We’re proud to welcome applications for the fifth cohort of the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator—an initiative designed to champion visionary start-ups as they bring fresh solutions to market. We also congratulate the entrepreneurs selected for Cohort 4, whose diverse ideas are poised to make a meaningful impact on communities, businesses, and the broader digital economy,” added Lineshree Moodley, country head of Visa South Africa.
With the aforementioned closing date of 15th August 2025 fast approaching, those fintechs wanting to apply, can find out more information, here.