Visa Invests in Konnect & PayTic Following Africa Fintech Accelerator Cohort 3
Visa, the global digital payments leader, has announced strategic investments and commercial partnerships with Tunisian fintech Konnect and Moroccan fintech PayTic. This follows the successful completion of the third cohort of the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program, which culminated with a Demo Day at GITEX Africa 2025 in Marrakech.
Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator: Fueling Growth
Launched in 2023 as part of Visa's commitment to invest $1 billion in Africa by 2027, the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator is a comprehensive 12-week program. It aims to help Seed to Series A startups scale through tailored training, mentorship, networking, and potential funding opportunities. Cohort 3 featured 19 innovative fintechs operating across 21 African nations, with an impressive 85% featuring female leadership. The program concluded with a Demo Day on April 15th at the GITEX Africa 10X Stage, providing participants valuable exposure to investors and partners. Over 60 startups have been accelerated since the program's inception, with the fourth cohort set to be announced on June 2, 2025.
Strategic Investments: Konnect & PayTic
Following the program, Visa has made strategic investments in two Cohort 3 participants:
Konnect (Tunisia): Enables seamless and instant payments by providing shareable links via SMS, email, or messaging apps like WhatsApp. CEO Amin Ben Abderrahman expressed excitement about Visa's continued trust in their vision for payments across Africa.
PayTic (Morocco): Focuses on streamlining back-office operations and enhancing risk control for digital payment providers. CEO Imad Boumahdi highlighted that Visa's backing positions them to "push the boundaries of possibility in fintech."
Ongoing Support for Alumni & Partners
These investments add to Visa's growing portfolio of support for African fintechs emerging from the accelerator. Previous investments include Oze (Ghana), Workpay (Kenya), OkHi (Nigeria), and ORDA (Nigeria/Kenya/SA). Visa also announced a new strategic partnership with Chari (Morocco), a B2B platform with embedded fintech solutions for small retailers, aiming to boost SME digitization in North Africa.
About Konnect
Konnect is a Tunisia-based fintech startup focused on simplifying digital transactions. Its platform enables businesses and individuals to easily send and receive payments through instantly generated, shareable links distributed via common communication channels like SMS, email, and WhatsApp.
About PayTic
PayTic is a Moroccan fintech company founded in 2020. It offers a SaaS platform designed to help banks, fintechs, and other payment processors streamline and automate complex back-office operational processes, such as reconciliation and chargeback management, enhancing efficiency and risk control.
About the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator
This 12-week hybrid program targets Seed to Series A fintech startups operating in or expanding into Africa. It provides mentorship from industry experts, Visa-specific training, access to technology resources, networking opportunities, and potential funding from Visa and its partners like Plug and Play. Key focus areas include payments, embedded finance, merchant/SME solutions, and inclusive finance.
Looking Ahead
Visa's continued investment and partnership activities through its Africa Fintech Accelerator program underscore its deep commitment to fostering innovation and driving digital transformation across the continent. The support for Konnect and PayTic provides these promising North African fintechs with crucial resources and validation as they scale their solutions, contributing to a more dynamic and inclusive financial ecosystem in the region.
Source: Visa Middle East