Brazil’s Ebanx expands into Africa with eye on mobile money

By Carolina Pulice

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Brazilian fintech firm Ebanx S.A. on Tuesday mentioned it has expanded into Africa, the place it hopes to duplicate its quick development in Latin America by inserting a higher emphasis on the digital funds aspect of its enterprise.

The corporate began operations in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria in late August amid hovering demand for funds through cellphones lately.

“(These nations) characterize greater than 50% of the continent’s GDP, one third of Africa’s inhabitants and are seeing an explosion in digital service adoption,” Paula Bellizia, a worldwide funds govt with Ebanx, advised Reuters.

Ebanx will initially give attention to cellular cash, a system which permits customers to trade and retailer funds on their mobile telephones, Bellizia mentioned. The corporate started providing digital wallets — fee functions on cellphones — to Brazilian customers on a check foundation in 2020.

The continent’s digital financial system has an estimated market measurement of $115 billion, in line with a report launched by Endeavor with McKinsey in June.

“In Latin America, digital commerce ended up accelerating digital fee. In Africa, digital funds will leverage digital commerce,” she mentioned.

“There’s a pattern of ecommerce occurring in Africa the identical approach it did in Latin America eight years in the past,” she added.

The Brazilian startup valued at over $1 billion additionally goals to succeed in agreements with main e-commerce shops to offer fee companies on the continent. With out disclosing names, Bellizia mentioned Ebanx will give attention to partnerships with world retailers.

In Latin America, it processes funds for firms like Airbnb Inc, Shopee and Uber.

“On regards to our enlargement plan, Africa grew to become our new precedence. It is a gigantic continent, with tens of millions of individuals turning into customers,” she mentioned.

Bellizia mentioned that Ebanx, which earlier this yr delayed a deliberate preliminary public providing, continues to research “market circumstances” to take that step.

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice; Enhancing by Christian Plumb and Deepa Babington)