Nigerian FinTech startup, Wallet.ng, has emerged second runner-up in the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2018. The team came behind Tanzanian payments company, Nala (winner) and Virtual Identify (South Africa).
In the third position for this year's Ecobank Fintech Challenge we have @thewalletng from Nigeria.#EcobankFintech pic.twitter.com/p8pESky1a7
— Ecobank Fintech (@ecobank_fintech) August 30, 2018
With over 400 startups applying for this year’s challenge, only 11 startups made it to the finals.
Congrats to @thewalletng for coming 3rd in the 2nd edition of the @ecobank_fintech challenge!
There were over 400 African fintech start-ups competing for the $10,000 prize money.#ecobankfintech #ecobankfintechchallenge pic.twitter.com/1Nodx6ltvc
— Ecobank Nigeria (@ecobank_nigeria) August 31, 2018
The Nigerian digital payments company which allows people to make transactions with just their phone numbers pitched alongside 10 others. The pitch was done at the finals of the challenge which held at the Ecobank’s global headquarters in Lome, Togo on August 30.
As winners, they will receive cash prizes of $10,000, $7,000 and $5,000 respectively. Other perks include support, mentorship, and partnership to scale their solutions for the larger market.
About the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2018
Organised by one of Africa’s transnational banks, the Ecobank Fintech Challenge aims to showcase and support startups developing solutions for financial services.
But in particular, the challenge targets startups developing digital verification systems, remittances solutions, digital marketing, offline mobile payments, multi-channel payment systems, and intra-Africa trade services.
@ecobank_fintech has announced 11 diverse finalists for its #EcobankFintechChallenge:
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
🇰🇪Lypa
🇳🇬@thewalletng
🇹🇿@NALAmoney
🇧🇯Litee
🇿🇦@SesoGlobal
🇸🇱InvestED
🇫🇷@eversendapp
🇳🇬@secapay
🇿🇦Virtual Identity
🇹🇬@MOJIPAYSAS
🇩🇪@awamo_group
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/deb2aBoeI4— Ecobank Research (@EcobankResearch) August 9, 2018
The challenge is organised annually by the bank. Meanwhile, the winner of the challenge gets support and mentorship from Ecobank to roll out its solution to the market. While the top three startups at the competition also get $10,000, $7,000 and $5,000 respectively.
Last year, Nigerian startup, IroFit, won the competition and this year, 11 startups qualified for the finals. They include Nala (Tanzania), Wallet.ng (Nigeria), Virtual Identify (South Africa), Lypa (Kenya), Litee (Benin), SESO Global (South Africa), InvestED (Sierra Leone), Eversend (France), Secapay (Nigeria), MojiPay (Togo), and Awamo (Uganda).