HUB2 raises USD 8.5 million to unify payments in Francophone Africa

As a company from one of the most economically challenged and financially fragmented regions in the world, HUB2 works with payment companies, 55 neobanks, remittance firms and cryptocurrency providers.

Details about HUB2

Founded in 2019 and having Series A funding led by TLcom Capital, HUB2 aims to improve Africa’s ecommerce industry.

On one hand, merchants who want to work with mobile banking providers often find it hard to sell regionally, since mobile money operators and banks in Francophone African countries operate in silos due to regulations and variances across banking systems.

On the other hand, reaching last-mile consumers for some of these financial institutions is difficult due to low banking penetration. Payment issues such as fragmentation, interoperability gaps, and collection challenges are widespread.

HUB2 aims to build an offering that could solve these challenges using an API that companies can utilise to manage transactions and make payments more efficiently.

The start-up acknowledges the need for high-quality, interoperable payment solutions in French-speaking Africa and aims to unify payments, create infrastructure and offer coverage and simple integration of payment methods in the region, similar to the Stripe platform.

Partnering with mobile funds providers like Wave, Orange, MTN, Moov, Free, and T-Money, HUB2 simplifies payments by enabling fintech firms to collect mobile money, bank transfers, card payments, and cryptocurrency through a single API.

Mobile money drives most of HUB2’s transactions at the moment, with less uptake for other payment methods, indicating that a fully interoperable ecosystem is still developing.

To address this, HUB2 will focus on its integration with CyberSource, Visa’s payment processing platform, across more African markets, targeting full regional coverage within the next two years. Currently, it operates in six Francophone African countries: Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, and Cameroon. This integration will roll out cross-border payment solutions, introduce stablecoin-based remittance services, and expand card payment capabilities.