Building on the success of the previous editions of CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa since 2018, the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT) is excited to announce the 15 selected startups that will participate in the fifth edition of this unique program for Fintech startup development.
The startup acceleration bootcamp will take place in Luxembourg between 24th and 28th October 2022.
Developed by the LHoFT Foundation and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs – Directorate for Development and Humanitarian Affairs, the program targets companies focusing on financial inclusion in Africa, aiming to build bridges with Luxembourg’s Microfinance and broader finance industry while highlighting their initiatives in alignment with the sustainability goals of Luxembourg’s finance center.
This year, the CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa program received a record number of quality applications – over 400. The process for the selection committee to choose just 15 participants was lengthy and difficult given the high standard of the applications.
This 5th edition of CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa will once again leverage Luxembourg’s Inclusive Finance and Fintech ecosystem to support selected firms in developing their businesses and achieving their inclusion goals.
The LHoFT team will be joined by key partners from Ada, Infine, Luxembourg for Finance, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), the European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg Microfinance and Development Fund, Bamboo Capital Group, Double Feather Partners, SPTF, LuxDev, Business Partnership Facility, ACRC, Compelio, and more, who will be working with the cohort throughout the program.
CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa provides a tailor-made program with intensive mentoring, coaching, peer to peer learning and dedicated workshops for the selected Fintech startups.
The program will include sessions on business model mapping, investment readiness, funding and capital raising, social impact, scaling strategy, building teams, operational management, advisory meetings with investors, and pitch development. Several alumni of previous year’s programs will travel to Luxembourg to share their experiences, delivering educational sessions and mentoring to the 2022 cohort.
In addition, for this year, the selected firms will actively participate in the Arch Summit on 26 and 27 October. The Summit organisers, Tomorrow Street (Vodafone) have centered the Summit’s program around three core themes: Digital Society – connecting people, communities, and things for a smarter digital lifestyle; Inclusion – enabling an accessible digital future for all; and Planet – reducing environmental impact and achieving a sustainable future.
The 15 Fintech startups selected to take part in the 2022 edition of CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa are:
AFRICRED, Bamako, Mali
AFA SARL is a West African fintech company incorporated in 2017. Since 2022, AFA has launched a project called AFRICRED whose mission is to provide digital finance solutions (adapted blockchain-based technology adapted loans to grow loan portfolios) to microfinance, insurance institutions, and banks on a revenue-sharing model.
The service offering includes complete digital microfinance systems, technical assistance, and training, and business incubation services for micro, small, and medium companies to be supported by our financing, and loans.
AgrixTech, Yaounde, Cameroon
Agrix Tech is an Agri-FinTech company helping small-scale farmers to transition from subsistence farming to commercial farming and maximize their profit. Agrix Tech bundles and provides to farmers everything they need: financing, farm inputs, advice, insurance and when possible market access. The company uses machine learning and satellite data to enable better credit decisions, and automated operations keep costs low and processes scalable.
Alajo Lagos, Nigeria
Alajo is a 100% female-founded Personal Finance Platform, that is designed to be the smart solution to the Historic and Traditional Thrift Savings System called Ajo. The company is the Digital Piggybank for the under(un)banked and non-smartphone users, using USSD and SMS Infrastructure; while integrating Data Analytics through AI/ML to help them save money every day, have historic financial records, develop credit scores, improve personal finance, so that they can make better financial decisions and open up financial opportunities.
Alajo is solving the problem of trust, fraud, Fatique and ignorance on saving cash everyday with the popular Ajo Agents (Community Thrift Operators) while digitalizing cash for the 66% of the Nigerian Population that just prefer to keep their cash.
ChapChap Africa, Kampala, Uganda
ChapChap Africa provides financial digital tools to MSMEs in Africa by enabling informal entrepreneurs to 1) add new business lines by extending financial services to low-income people, 2) digitizing their bookkeeping, and 3) build a verifiable digital credit profile.
From value-added services to new opportunities to financing through their partners, ChapChap Africa are building a long-term ecosystem for MSMEs to grow and thrive with them as their partners.
ComGrow, Lusaka, Zambia
ComGrow is about to launch is the ComGrow application: a mobile application available on Android and iOS that is a fully interoperable solution.
The company is currently setting up as a data collection and management system that will facilitate savings and credit group operations through integration with other payment systems in order for users to transact (save money into their group fund and receive money that they have requested to borrow).
Thus, ComGrow has created a core-banking system specifically for these informal finance mechanisms, allowing users to keep a record of all those participating, what groups they are part of, how much and when they transact and any other data input relative to each user on the platform.
Radava Mercentile, Nairobi, Kenya
Radava Mercantile provides an agricultural commodity exchange market, alternative financing, and post-harvest technologies to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.
The company enhances trade by connecting smallholder farmers to a global marketplace.
Hello Tractor, Nairobi, Kenya
Hello Tractor is a pay-as-you-go loan technology finance company that unlocks low risk, lower-cost financing for rural entrepreneurs while de-risking the creditor through tractor investments into pre-booked assets.
Flexible repayments remotely track work completed and as assets work and investment is repaid. Asset/Collateral Health monitors asset health and protects from misuse and increases uptime.
Risk Management Financing links fully booked tractors through marketplace and IoT data to track performance against plan.
Hello Tractor is applying a systems approach to the global food crisis. The company leads with tractors because this is what farmers want and need the most.
Hello Tractor’s approach requires high frequency learning, adaptability to these new learnings, and the ability to innovate learnings into new solutions.
Kayko, Kigali, Rwanda
Kayko’s Mobile App helps small businesses simplify their financial management to access financial services conveniently. With the Kayko app, small business entrepreneurs can record their sales, expenses, and credits and access financial services faster and easier.
Kayko is on a mission to change the narrative of small businesses in Africa, where everybody that engages them sees them as high-risk and of no value. The company wants to enable these hard-working entrepreneurs to get the recognition and support they deserve to move them from the informal economy to the formal economy.
Lami Insurtech, Nairobi, Kenya
Lami Insurtech is revolutionising insurance for underwriters and businesses in Africa via an end-to-end insurance platform and powerful APIs.
Nkwa, Buea, Cameroon
Nkwa is a digital piggybank that lets its users plan, save and invest their money.
Proxalys, Dakar, Senegal
ProXalys SAS is a startup whose vision is to digitalize the West African informal trade around 3 main offers:
1) – ProXalys marketplace which is a platform that allows local shop owners to buy agricultural products but also consumer goods at the best quality/price ratio with an option to pay in installments
2) – ProBoutik, which is an application that gives retailers the possibility to check their credit given and eventually to take advantage of our financing offer. 3) – ProCash which will be integrated into the ProBoutik application to allow them to receive cash by mobile money and make their financial transactions in complete security.
Servichain, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Servichain uses blockchain benefits to propose digital and financial services efficiently. The company’s apps and services fix the financial inclusion and identity problems on blockchain addresses with mobile phones in a potential market of 1.4 billion people.
Servichain web3 mobile wallet is the most accessible and easy to use for the people, it is a gift for unbanked population. The wallet can be used to secure and use digital assets and access financial services on blockchain with digital assets like savings, online purchase or remittances.
Sosocare, Abuja, Nigeria
SOSO CARE is a health insurtech which aims to use recyclable garbage as a financial resource enabling millions of uninsured slum dwellers mostly pregnant women and kids toaccess micro health insurance across over 1000 hospitals nationwide. By linking recyclables to healthcare, SOSO CARE provides access to healthcare and drive environmental sustainability.
Yalla Solutions, Cairo, Egypt
Yalla Solutions is a digital financial services platform, that democratizes access to financial services to the masses using digital-first, user friendly experience in the form of a card + Super App.
DanAid, Douala, Cameroon
About a billion people in Africa are priced out of healthcare services and health insurance relief. DanAid is a micro-health insurance providing them near real time access to money for their care through their mobile.
Register to attend the final pitch event and the celebration of Fintech Friday, HERE.
