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Mookh Africa, a Kenyan online selling platform has bagged Sh5 million after becoming the overall winner of Visa’s funding competition for tech startups in Africa.
The competition, dubbed "Everywhere", is a global initiative by the US company aimed at helping tech startups develop the next generation's payment technologies.
Mookh beat 11 other finalists selected from 238 submissions from across the continent to emerge as the champions. The Kenyan firm developed a social payments solution that makes it easy to buy and sell goods and services on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Mookh will take home US$50,000 (Sh 5 million) and get assistance from Visa to develop the concept further. Nigerian startup CredPal won the “Merchant Payments” challenge and will pocket US$25,000 (Sh 2.5 million).
This is the first edition of Visa's Everywhere Initiative in Sub Sahara Africa. 11 fintechs from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia had been shortlisted to take part in the final pitch event in South Africa.
“Visa is proud to play its part in Africa by enabling a smart economy powered by secure digital payments. This vision comes to life when we can collaborate with passionate minds and foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem where innovators can thrive."
"Today, we saw this passion and innovation first-hand; and we are excited to build on the technologies that have secured the top positions in each of these challenges. Together with Visa and our financial institution partners, we would love to see at least some of these become a reality for consumers in the near future," Sunny Walia, General Manager for Visa East Africa said.