Top Insights
A strong week for frontier fintech: from North Africa’s financial inclusion surge to Eastern Europe’s first fintech unicorn. The latest raises reflect a global theme – fintech is scaling where traditional banking still can’t reach.
The Big Five
Chari
$12M (Series A)
Morocco-based Chari, a YC-backed fintech and e-commerce startup, has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by SPE Capital and Orange Ventures, with participation from Global Founders Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, and Plug and Play.
The round – Morocco’s largest Series A to date, brings Chari’s total funding to $17 million. Alongside the raise, Bank Al-Maghrib granted Chari a payment institution licence, enabling the startup to issue IBANs and debit cards, process domestic and international transfers, and distribute micro-insurance.
Chari now plans to evolve into a merchant super app, digitising informal retail and transforming corner shops into financial service hubs.
Fintech-IT Group
Undisclosed (Unicorn milestone)
Ukraine’s Fintech-IT Group became the country’s first fintech unicorn, surpassing a $1 billion valuation following an undisclosed investment led by the Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund (UMAEF) and unnamed U.S. private investors.
Founded by Oleg Gorokhovskyi and Mykhailo Rogalskyi, the company operates multiple financial brands and develops technology for Monobank, Ukraine’s largest neobank with nearly 10 million customers.
The raise signals sustained international confidence in Ukraine’s fintech sector amid ongoing conflict – a symbolic and economic milestone for Eastern Europe’s innovation ecosystem.
PAYDAY
$3M (Pre-Seed)
Tunisian fintech and insurtech startup PAYDAY closed its first pre-seed round led by UGFS North Africa, with participation from TALYS Group and BioProtection SA, valuing the company at $3 million.
Founded in 2024 by Mohamed Anouar Gadhoum and Shaher Abbas, PAYDAY connects insurers, banks, and employers to deliver salary-backed financing and micro-Takaful protection for low- and middle-income workers.
With over 10,000 transactions and 8.2 million Tunisian dinars processed since launch, PAYDAY plans to expand into a regional financial and insurance aggregator, linking banks, MFIs, and insurers across North Africa.
Akua
$8.5M (Seed)
Latin American payments platform Akua raised $8.5 million in seed funding co-led by Flourish Ventures and Cathay Latam, with support from Atlantico, Krealo, Honey Island 4UM, and Simma Capital.
Founded in 2024, Akua provides AI-powered payments infrastructure for businesses in Colombia and Uruguay, connecting directly to Mastercard, Visa, RTP, and alternative payment rails.
The company plans to expand into Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru in 2026, extending its AI-driven fraud detection and reconciliation tools to new markets.
Agio Ratings
$6M (Equity Round)
London-based Agio Ratings raised $6 million in a funding round led by AlbionVC, with Portage Ventures and MS&AD joining.
The company – founded in 2022, applies quantitative risk models to digital-asset markets, providing real-time default risk assessments for crypto exchanges, custodians, and lending platforms.
Agio will use the funds to expand its research and engineering teams, as institutional investors increasingly seek data-driven risk analytics for crypto exposure.
Startups on the Radar
RUGR Fintech (India)
$5M pre-Series A from Vikasa India EIF I Fund, building rural banking and payments infrastructure for underserved communities.
Vilja (Sweden)
$4M round to expand its core banking platform beyond the Nordics, including a new AI development hub in Malaysia.
JS Group (UK)
Minority investment from NatWest to scale its Aspire payments platform across education, charity, and government sectors.
Together, these raises show how fintech is evolving past hype cycles into durable infrastructure.
Whether it’s salary-linked microfinance in Tunis, shopkeeper super apps in Casablanca, or AI-driven rails in Bogotá, the common thread is clear – inclusion is scaling through technology.
Disclaimer: This digest is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
Keep up with the fast-evolving intersection of traditional banking and emerging blockchain and crypto technology.
"*" indicates required fields