Visa just scooped fintechs from all over Africa, spotlighting stablecoins and AI while quietly proving innovation is no longer stuck in the usual hubs.
Cohort Five gets wider and weirder
Cohort Five gets wider and weirder
- Visa selected 18 startups for the fifth accelerator cohort.
- Drawn from 28 African markets.
- Burkina Faso and Djibouti joined the mix.
- Cross-border payments took center stage.
- Stablecoin-backed rails showed up everywhere.
- Faster money movement drove most pitches.
- Startups leaned hard into artificial intelligence.
- Tackled fraud detection and risk scoring.
- Built digital identity tools for thin-data markets.
- Credit access gaps shaped product design.
- Data scarcity forced creative scoring models.
- Legacy banking blind spots got targeted.
- Africa Fintech Accelerator backs early and growth-stage teams.
- Provides mentorship and technical support.
- Opens doors to a global payments network.
- New markets are finally getting airtime.
- Fintech gravity is spreading outward.
- Financial inclusion stays the core pitch.
