Even non-sexy industries may be attractive to investors

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech (formerly The Interchange)! This week we have a look at some hot fintech startups in Africa, how the closure of Mint Copilots profited, and why VCs have doubled down on their commitment to a specific startup in the fee management space.

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The big story

While enterprise funding in Africa (like all over the world) has declined recently, last week was an excellent week for the region’s fintech ecosystem. TC reporter Tage Kene-Okafor reported on how Uber made a $100 million investment in African mobility fintech Moove when the startup’s valuation reached $750 million. He also wrote about how Zone raised $8.5 million to expand its decentralized payments infrastructure. And Annie Njanja reported on how a Tanzanian payment company works NalaThe successful transition to offering remittance services in 2021 also led to the creation of a B2B payment platform.

Analysis of the week

Intuit’s decision to shut the budgeting app mint has led to opportunities for start-ups on this area. Christine Hall has written about how co-pilot has grown more within the last 4 months than within the previous 4 years, and the startup was capable of translate that growth right into a $6 million Series A funding round led by Nico Wittenborn’s Adjacent. TC previously reported on Copilot when it first launched with $250,000 in angel funding and nonetheless when it added support for Apple Card. Ozzie Osman, co-founder of Monarch Money, had also told TechCrunch that Mint’s loss was their gain.

Dollars and cents

Even non-sexy industries may be attractive to investors. Expense management startup coast is aimed toward firms that need to administer so-called real field staff and fleets. The company claims to have experienced 550% revenue growth last 12 months and has just raised an extra $25 million in equity financing.

Digital bank Onyx Private switches to B2B. The YC-backed startup raised $4.1 million last 12 months with the goal of catering to high-earning Millennials and Gen Zers. But last week, the corporate told customers it was suspending banking operations and shutting their accounts.

Swiss fintech I’m sorrywhich makes banking in Switzerland accessible to people in countries with unstable banking sectors or in countries with high inflation, has raised $4 million in seed funding.

What else we write

Despite the recent growth within the fintech space, Eric Glyman, co-founder and CEO of rampHe believes the industry and firms like his are only scratching the surface. Glyman recently said on the TechCrunch Found podcast that his unicorn corporate card and expense startup has only tapped 1% of its potential market share, despite its growth thus far. Interesting fact: Both Ramp and Deel turned five this week – only a day apart.

In his far-reaching antitrust lawsuit against Apple and its iPhone business, the US Department of Justice is taking targeted motion against Apple’s huge financial business.