Nigerian fintech startup Touch and Pay has won the 2022 edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge, taking home a US$50,000 cash prize.
Ecobank is a leading independent pan-African banking group that serves over 32 million customers in the consumer, commercial and corporate banking sectors across 33 African countries.
Its annual Fintech Challenge offers early-stage and mature startups the potential to partner with Ecobank across those 33 countries, and is now in its fifth year.
Disrupt Africa reported earlier this month six finalists had been selected for the challenge, which came to a conclusion at the Grand Finale held last week at Ecobank’s headquarters in Lomé, Togo.
The overall winner was Touch and Pay, which has developed a suite of near field communication (NFC) based payment solutions for all sorts of situations. Participants in the W22 batch of the renowned Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator, Touch and Pay recently raised a seed round worth over US$3 million, and is planning expansion.
Touch and Pay takes home the US$50,000 cash prize, and alongside the other five finalists has been inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship, which provides the opportunity to explore potential commercial partnerships with the bank. The other finalists were Cauri Money (Senegal), DizzitUp (Togo), MaishaPay (Democratic Republic of Congo), Moni Africa (Nigeria), and Paycode (South Africa).
Oluwole Michael, CEO of Touch and Pay, expressed deep satisfaction at winning the Fintech Challenge.
“We at Touch and Pay (TAP) are excited about the opportunity given to us to work with Ecobank. This plugs into our vision of helping 250 million Africans process cash-based transactions digitally making them truly cashless and providing true credit facilities for merchants, retailers, and customers,” he said.
Ade Ayeyemi, CEO of Ecobank Group, said this year’s six finalists had set the bar high.
“Their innovations are revolutionising the financial payments landscape in Africa and advancing financial inclusion. It is an honour for the Ecobank Group to partner with them and jointly transform the financial landscape of our continent,” he said.
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