The Milken Institute and Motsepe Foundation have announced the 10 teams advancing to the Semifinalist Round of the Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech, with each team awarded $100,000 in funding.
The prize supports innovative solutions aimed at expanding financial inclusion in emerging and frontier markets. Semifinalists will showcase their innovations at the Milken Institute’s Middle East and Africa Summit on December 5-6, 2024, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. During the event, a panel of judges and investors will select three teams to advance to the final round. The overall winner will be awarded a $1 million Grand Prize at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles in May 2025.
“By supporting these pioneering teams, we aim to foster financial inclusion and empower entrepreneurs who drive economic growth and opportunities in their communities,” said Emily Musil, Senior Director at the Milken Institute.
The Semifinalists span 30 countries across three continents and will spend the next four months testing and scaling their solutions, which will be evaluated on impact, scalability, and sustainability.
The 10 Semifinalists are:
- AZA Finance (Kenya): A B2B FinTech company offering businesses secure financial services across major currencies.
- Chapa (Ethiopia): An online payment gateway simplifying payment integration for Ethiopian businesses.
- Chumz (Kenya): A gamified savings platform that helps individuals save through behavioral psychology.
- Farmpawa (Uganda): A crowd farming platform connecting investors to farming assets, promoting sustainable agriculture.
- Flow Global (UK): A liquidity engine supporting retail merchants with their working capital needs.
- Paycloud by Lipa Later (Kenya): A digital banking platform providing seamless payment solutions to address late payments in Africa.
- Nyla Bank (Ghana): Africa’s first digital Islamic bank, offering Shariah-compliant products and services.
- Oze (Ghana): A digital lending platform connecting banks with SMEs to facilitate data-driven lending.
- Trade Lenda (Nigeria): A banking platform offering rapid loan access and savings solutions for SMEs.
- Verto (UK): A cross-border payments platform designed for businesses in emerging markets, processing transactions in 49 currencies.
