Africa is one continent that has been left behind in adoption of technology as compared to other continents but with more robust technology schemes being rolled out every day, countries and corporates within the region are warming up to opportunities in the technology sector. One sector that is receiving an uplift is the international money transfer market which has previous seen a heavy reliance on traditional means to send money across borders within and outside the continent. These traditional mechanisms usually take a lot of time to process transactions as well as incur an hefty cost on its citizens. This bottleneck is consequential to African development considering the fact that majority of African top earners are working abroad in first class economies. These diaspora citizens find it difficult to send money back home as it costs them a fortune and takes a lot of time before reaching the intended recipients. To solve some of these problems, Bitpesa launched its own online platform that is powered by blockchain and AI in the African market in an effort to capture a sizeable market share.
Bitpesa facilitates the digital foreign exchange of cryptocurrency and payments on a platform that has been in operation for the past 10 years. The platform allows its users to buy bitcoin and also make transactions between Africa and other parts in the globe. The platform is based on blockchain technology and is considered one of the best platform having been the first one in the continent to receive approval by the British FCA(Financial Conduct Authority). The platform has promised its users more benefits that act as selling points to the market population. Some of these benefits include the ability to facilitate cheap and fast payment processing across international borders.
The company, having been launched in Nairobi, Kenya, back in 2013, has opened other offices in Lagos, Luxembourg, Dakar, Madrid and London. At first the company only allowed transfer of Bitcoin at fixed rates between individuals but expanded to include B2B(Business to Business) due to huge demands from the market. As of 2015, the company had acquired $1.1 million in a funding drive led by Pantera Capital and an additional $2.5 million in 2017 through a funding round led by Draper Venture Capital. Since then the firm has raised funds through multiple rounds and aims to be the best across Europe and Africa.
The platform offers a payment gateway that allows users to send and receive funds through fiat currencies that pass through banks and received at the destination in the local currency. Apart from payments, the platform also allows for trading within the site and transactions are processed at lightning speeds. In addition the platform offers users from Ghana, Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda and DRC the ability to purchase Bitcoin on site. The residents of those countries can also enjoy mobile money payment services through a network of 60 banks across the region. All these achievements are made possible because the bank supports a huge number of local and international currencies. When making payments across countries, 3% is charged as transaction fees, a figure that is way less as compared to other TradFi(Traditional Finance) systems. To enjoy the firm’s services, the company has an online onboarding platform in their website.
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