Chapa Secures Spot in Visa’s Africa Fintech Accelerator Program

Fintech startup Chapa has been selected for the second cohort of Visa’s Africa Fintech Accelerator program. 

Chapa, which is among the top 2 percent chosen from 800 applicants, will receive 12 weeks of one-on-one mentorship and personalized training. The program also offers exclusive access to funding and other development resources.

Visa reports that Cohort 2 startups operate across 28 African countries. Nigeria leads the pack with six participants, while Kenya is represented by CheckUps Medical Hub, an embedded health startup.

The selected startups provide a diverse range of solutions, including neo-banking, merchant payments, credit scoring, risk and identity management, embedded finance, social commerce, escrow services, and more. These solutions aim to address key challenges and opportunities in the African fintech landscape, such as financial inclusion, access to credit, cross-border payments, and digital transformation.

Aida Diarra, Vice President, and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at Visa said the Accelerator program, launched in June 2023, is reflective of Visa’s ongoing efforts to help uplift the digital economy in Africa, including a pledge to invest $1 billion in the continent by 2027 to help revolutionize the payments ecosystem.

Chapa is the first startup to be part of Visa’s Africa Fintech Accelerator program. Visa, however, has a history of collaborating with local startups through other programs, including the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) and the She’s Next women’s empowerment initiative.

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The 12-week virtual program culminates in a live Demo Day where the startups will pitch their innovations to key players in the ecosystem, including funding partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists.