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APIs are the core of every digital strategy Digital transformation has made it possible to scale up things that used to be difficult to expand. Partnering, integrating, or reselling used to require hard work by everyone involved. As a result of digital transformation, an increasing share of business processes is digital so these things can be done far more quickly and more efficiently. 

Share246TweetShareWhatsAppEmail246 SharesCairo-based fintech Dayra has won $15,000 grant from Y Combinator’s Startup School, becoming the first startup from the Middle East & North Africa to win it. The winners, most of which were from the United States, were announced by Y Combinator on Friday. MENAbytes also understands that there are at least three startups from the region that have made it to Y Combinator’s current accelerator batch (Winter 2020) that YC will reveal at its demo day in March 2020 – good few months for MENA at YC.

A FinTech sandbox or an application program interface (API) sandbox is an environment that innovators and testers can use to mimic the characteristics exhibited by the production environment on a real-time basis to help simulate responses from all the systems an application interfaces with. This enables banks and FinTech players to experiment with innovative financial products or services within a well-defined space and duration. Moreover, the presence of appropriate safeguards helps in containing the consequences of failure. Essentially, the sandbox allows for the pilot testing of newly developed technologies. 

The technologies that are used by BelCash Technology Solutions are: TransIP, Google Analytics, Google Maps API, Twitter Cards

TPAY MOBILE makes it easy for digital service providers to access over 600 million customers and accept payments across MEA and Turkey. Through one simple API integration, TPAY MOBILE’s full service mobile payment platform enables rapid business growth and drives financial inclusion.

Cloud eliminates many data storage management problems that plague dated enterprise infrastructure. Cloud computing in banking offers easy access to data for regulatory reporting, risk mitigation, analytics, deep learning, and discovering risk management anomalies.

Cloud based financial services can scale to meet variable and increasing data volume. Plus clean, consolidated, contextualized data eliminates the blinders caused by data silos. Additionally, on-premise grids typically force banks to allocate compute resources while cloud resources are available on-demand.

Open banking promotes banking and payments technology standardization, drives competition, enhances security of customer account data, and leads to data use innovation. APIs simplify the way financial institutions collect actionable data (e.g. customer purchasing, loan needs, preferred journey patterns, risk profiles, and future income projections).

“Common investor wisdom is to stay in your market and dominate. This assumes that you are expanding on your own but we believe that by collaborating and partnering deliberately, Carbon and other tech companies can scale faster and build more enduring platforms,” Chijioke Dozie, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Carbon, said. 

Nigerian fintech startup Carbon has set up a US$100,000 pan-African fund to address the lack of funding and support holding back entrepreneurs on the continent.Consumer lending platform Carbon, which rebranded in April as parent company OneFi continues to transition into being a full digital banking platform after raising US$5 million in debt funding and acquiring Nigerian payments startup Amplify, has been busy expanding its offering, and has also moved into new markets with a Kenyan launch.Its “Disrupt fund” is the first of its kind by an African fintech startup, and will invest up to US$10,000 per startup for five per cent equity. Portfolio companies will also be given access to Carbon’s API, allowing them to leverage Carbon’s growing customer base and innovative technology platform to get to market faster. Carbon expects the initiative to spark more collaboration and further investment that should drive growth across the ecosystem, and is accepting applications from companies with operations in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Egypt. Startups looking to apply for the fund must have a functioning product, be post-revenue, and be looking to operate in multiple countries. The fund has a wide investment mandate but target sectors include insurance, health and education.“There are many excellent companies across the continent looking for the kind of scale Nigeria offers and we are excited to partner with them to provide the support and financial investment they need. We are equally excited to expand beyond Nigeria and Kenya by working with a new generation of innovators across the continent and sharing our experience to tackle common obstacles to growth.”

Nigerian fintech startup Carbon has set up a US$100,000 pan-African fund to address the lack of funding and support holding back entrepreneurs on the continent.

We improve on partnerships focusing on leveraging on existing infrastructure such as distribution systems sides for cost effective operations. Partnerships that aim to drive innovation by exposing prebuilt APIs. For instance, access to accounts, transaction history, know your customer, or metadata enhancements.  

Nigerian fintech startup, Carbon, just announced that it has launched a $100,000 pan-African fund for startups.According to the company, the Carbon Disrupt Fund was set up to address the lack of funding and support holding back budding tech entrepreneurs on the continent. It will invest up to $10,000 per startup in exchange for a 5% equity.Also, startups will have access to Carbon’s API, and leverage Carbon’s growing customer base and innovative technology platform, to get to market faster. Additionally, the fund will provide mentorship, access to Carbon’s customers and payment platform, as well as office space in Carbon’s Lagos offices.

Carbon’s Disrupt fund, the first of its kind by an African fintech startup, will invest up to $10,000 per startup (for 5 percent equity) and give access to Carbon’s API, allowing investees to leverage Carbon’s growing customer base and innovative technology platform, to get to market faster. Acknowledging that its success is dependent on the growth of the tech ecosystem, Carbon expects the initiative to spark more collaboration and further investment that should drive growth across the ecosystem.