Ziggy Ojiegbe

Nigerian digital payments firm Moniepoint has acquired a 78% stake in Sumac, a Kenyan microfinance bank, as part of its rapid expansion across Africa’s financial services sector.

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Over the past five years, Moniepoint has evolved from a technology provider for banks into a full-fledged digital bank, gaining popularity with merchants for fast and reliable transactions. Last year, it launched an international remittance service, targeting payments from Africans living abroad.

Fintech acquisitions between African startups remain relatively rare, but Moniepoint is among a small group of African fintech unicorns driving consolidation in a sector crowded with hundreds of players. The deal marks a significant step in the company’s pan-African ambitions.

Africa’s mobile money market continues to grow at a remarkable pace. Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for roughly three-quarters of the $2.1 trillion in global mobile money transactions in 2025, according to GSMA, with 2.3 billion registered users worldwide — nearly double the total four years ago.

Kenya has been at the forefront of this trend. The success of M-Pesa, the mobile money arm of Safaricom, has shown that phone-based payments can be profitable, attracting investment and driving financial inclusion. Increasingly, growth is being fueled by active usage rather than new accounts, with 80% of mobile money providers reporting improving profitability. In Kenya, mobile money adoption has even doubled the number of active retail investors on the nation’s stock exchange.

Moniepoint’s acquisition of Sumac positions the Nigerian fintech to leverage Kenya’s thriving mobile money ecosystem, combining digital banking expertise with a growing customer base to expand financial access across East Africa.