We have prepared context and insights about this week’s leading news. The stories are:
- Collect Africa shuts down to chase global payments
- Revolut eyes Morocco, led by ex-Uber executive
- Afriex expands to Asia
Collect Africa shuts down to chase global payments
Another African fintech is pivoting away from local payments, and this one’s betting on stablecoins. After four years of helping small businesses handle payments, Collect Africa is shutting down to make room for Autospend, a new platform focused on cross-border payments.
Since launching in 2021, the startup has helped over 5,000 small businesses collect payments via bank transfers, QR codes, POS terminals, and payment links, all from a single dashboard. They processed over $4 million in transactions and were bringing in about $5,000 a month.
So why walk away? They believe the future of money in Africa isn’t just about local transactions, it’s about global movement. That belief led them to Autospend, a new startup they launched earlier this year. Unlike Collect, which focused on local payments, Autospend is all in on stablecoins. The idea is to help individuals and businesses send, spend, save, and manage money instantly and affordably across borders.
“Collect was an incredible journey,” Ojes said. “But over time, we saw a much bigger problem worth solving.”
SponsoredRevolut eyes Morocco, led by ex-Uber executive
Revolut is packing its bags for North Africa. The UK-based fintech unicorn is setting up shop in Morocco, and it’s bringing in Amine Berrada, former Uber GM, as country lead, starting with payments and foreign exchange before going all-in on digital banking.
The strategy? Start small, move fast. Revolut is building a 60-person team in Casablanca and laying the groundwork for local payments with plans to scale into full neobank services within two years. That is, if it can get past Morocco’s notoriously cautious regulators. Bank Al-Maghrib doesn’t hand out banking licenses like candy, and the dirham’s non-convertibility (you can’t freely exchange the Moroccan dirham for other currencies) adds extra red tape around things like compliance, KYC, and capital controls.
To navigate all that, Revolut is exploring an Electronic Payment Institution (EPI) license or a partnership with a local bank, whichever gets them moving quicker.
Zoom out: This move comes as Revolut doubles down on Europe, recently naming Paris its Western Europe HQ and pledging over €1 billion in investments, including 400+ new roles by 2029. Morocco may be a smaller market, but it’s a strategic foothold in North Africa, and an opportunity to offer services local banks haven’t quite nailed.
And Morocco’s not the only blip on Revolut’s radar. In South Africa, the company is reportedly gunning for a full banking license, putting it head-to-head with digital-first incumbents like TymeBank, Discovery Bank, and Bank Zero.
Afriex expands to Asia
While Revolut is inching into Africa from the outside, Afriex is flipping the script, heading out from Nigeria and planting its flag in Asia’s biggest remittance markets.
The Lagos and San Francisco-based fintech has expanded to India, China, and Pakistan, three of the top five remittance destinations globally.
The company is waiving fees on transfers above $10, betting that a smoother, cheaper experience will drive adoption among African traders and migrants already transacting across those corridors.
Context: Cross-border payments are booming, thanks to rising migration, global trade, and the remote work economy. Asia-Pacific alone handled 26% of the $190 trillion in cross-border transactions in 2024, with India topping the remittance charts with $120 billion in 2023.
Zoom out: Afriex isn’t alone in this global charge. Flutterwave made a move in India last year through a local partnership. LemFi also raised $53 million earlier this year to fuel its Asia and Europe push.
By the Numbers
284.9 Trillion
Electronic payment transactions in Nigeria hit ₦284.9 trillion in Q1 2025, according to new data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). That’s a 22% jump from the ₦234.4 trillion recorded in the same period last year.
