On January 29, 2025, Nigerian remittance fintech LemFi announced the acquisition of Irish currency exchange platform Buttercrane in a strategic move to expand its services across Europe. The deal, approved by the Central Bank of Ireland, grants LemFi an Irish license, allowing it to operate in the European Economic Area (EEA). This is not LemFi’s first foray into the European market. In 2021, the company secured a UK license by acquiring RightCard, a dynamic London-based fintech founded in 2014. LemFi also partnered with Dutch firm Modulr Finance to begin operations in Europe while waiting for the Irish regulatory approval. With this new license, LemFi can now expand seamlessly across Europe, using a system called “passporting,” which enables financial institutions to operate in other EEA member states beyond their primary licensing country.
LemFi is one of the poster children of a new generation of Cross-Continental African Tech Ventures founded by entrepreneurs who dream about global reach and domination. To the new kids on the block, conquering Africa is not enough. They defy old stereotypes and see themselves in the same class of global entrepreneurs who have built the Ubers, AirBnBs, Facebooks, Glovos, etc of this world. Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran co-founded LemFi during COVID in 2020 with a goal of becoming a key player in the remittance market for emerging economies in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The company now has over one million active users. In mid January, LemFi raised $53 million in a Series B funding round.
Nigerian mobility fintech, Moove, another poster child, acquired Brazilian car rental startup Kovi, marking a major step in its expansion into Latin America. This strategic acquisition strengthens Moove’s global presence as it continues to scale its vehicle financing and fleet management services. The completion of the Kovi takeover is subject to approval from Brazil’s antitrust authority. Kovi will continue operating under its existing brand name, and its executive and management teams will remain unchanged. Also founded in 2020 during COVID by two cross-continental founders, Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, Moove has positioned itself as a key player in the global mobility marketplace by providing vehicle financing solutions for ride-hailing platforms through its Drive-to-Own product, as well as taxi and autonomous vehicle services. The company raised $100 million in a Series B funding round last year and, with this acquisition, now boasts a global fleet of 36,000 vehicles, $275 million in annual revenue, and operations in 19 cities across six continents. Moove has also been expanding into the U.S. through a recently announced partnership with Waymo, Google’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary.
Flutterwave is the third example, whose global reach saw a notable increase, with 48% of businesses using its platform receiving payments from new geographic locations—a 12% rise from 2023. Founded in 2016 by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Olugbenga Agboola, and Adeleke Adekoya with headquarters in the U.S. and to some extent Nigeria. The company expanded its operations to Canada, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, and Mozambique, bringing its total presence to over 35 countries. Additionally, Flutterwave now supports more than 150 currencies, enabling seamless cross-border transactions for its users. Flutterwave achieved significant milestones in the United States, acquiring 31 additional money transfer licenses and launching its Send App in 49 states. These developments have strengthened its ability to serve the African diaspora and global customers as a cross-continental African Tech Venture.
In 2023, Ugandan fintech, Asaak entered Mexico by acquiring a subsidiary of FlexClub, which provides mobility financing and car loans to drivers. Founded in 2016, Asaak offers motorcycle and smartphone loans to Ugandans individually and through partners like SafeBoda. After becoming profitable on the back of its program that purchased motorcycles for boda boda (motorcycle taxi) drivers in Uganda, Asaak began to consider options for expansion said Kaivan Sattar, CEO and Founder.
In February 2021, South Africa’s digital bank, TymeBank, entered the Philippines market via a partnership with the Gokongwei Group/JG Summit Holdings. This was after it announced its US$110 million Series B capital raise for expansion across ASEAN, starting with the Philippines.
In January 2020, Nigeria’s foremost fintech Paga, a mobile money service provider, announced the acquisition of its Ethiopian partner, Apposit, to enter the Ethiopian market and also announced the expansion of its services to Mexico that year. That represented an expansion into the rest of Africa and Latin America simultaneously. These moves came a little over a year after Paga raised a US$10 million Series B round.
Emeka Ajene of Afridigest Intelligence described this phenomenon of African tech ventures expanding into the global south as an “Emerging market to Emerging market” expansion (E2E). Emeka argues that the old expansion model of going into other African markets is giving way to this new model of expanding into the global south and, to some extent, the rest of the world.
The new cross continental expansion model is not a one-way street – it goes in both directions. An equally exciting phenomenon is Latin American tech firms expanding into Africa over the last five years. When dLocal, a fintech from Uruguay announced its expansion to Ghana, Kenya, Cameroun and Senegal in 2020, Adebiyi Aromolaran, Head of Expansion described Africa as “a tremendous untapped e-commerce opportunity,” with “huge potential for growth and an under 40% penetration rate.” When Brazil’s EBANX announced its African entry last September, CEO and co-founder, João Del Valle pointed out that the decision was supported by the fact that “Africa’s fast-growing digital economy is only in its early days, and it’s projected to grow up and to the right for the next few decades.”
This cross continental E2E expansion model will provide opportunities to savy founders from Africa and elsewhere to expand their global footprint and reach new consumers across the globe.
