EMEA Daily: Qonto Set to Acquire Penta; African Payments Solution Bizao Raises €8M for Expansion

In today’s top news from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Fidel API CTO Andre Elias discusses APIs, Pan-African payment solutions provider Bizao announces a funding round and French digital bank Qonto says it will acquire German rival Penta.

Real-Time Payments, APIs and Infrastructure Unlock New Consumer Use Cases

Historically, developers who wanted to build on top of the existing payments infrastructure have struggled to access the data needed to build real-time, engaging experiences.

But according to Andre Elias, chief technology officer of London-based Fidel API, that’s a gap that the financial infrastructure firm is filling today, providing developers with tools to create applications on top of existing payment infrastructure and access that data to trigger event-based experiences.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Elias discussed the power of open APIs beyond open banking.

African Payments Solution Bizao Raises €8M for Regional Expansion

Pan-African payment solutions provider Bizao on Thursday (July 21) announced an 8 million euro series A funding round.

The round was led by AfricInvest Financial Inclusion Vehicle (AfricInvest FIVE), Adelie, and Seedstars Africa Ventures. The new capital will be used to accelerate Bizao’s growth across the African continent and to develop new products and services.

Launched in 2019, Bizao facilitates the processing of end-to-end payment flows to and from the main digital payment systems in Africa. Within three years, Bizao had expanded its footprint to 10 African countries: Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tunisia, Togo and Gabon.

French Digital Bank Qonto to Acquire Penta

Qonto, the French digital bank for small businesses and freelancers, on Friday (July 22) announced its intent to acquire German rival Penta. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The deal, which is expected to close in the coming weeks, represents a “natural next step” in Qonto’s long-term ambition to become the finance solution of choice for 1 million clients by 2025, the French FinTech said in a statement.

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