Colombian payments infrastructure startup Minka has launched operations in Eastern and South Africa, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

• The company plans to expand to Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia, Burundi, Uganda, and Mozambique in the first phase. 
• Minka is a cloud-based programmable solution that can be customized by its partners to fit within a variety of regulatory frameworks.
• Founded in Bogota, Colombia, in 2016, the fintech raised $24M USD in 2022 in a Series A funding round which saw participation from Tiger Global Management, Kaszec Ventures, and the FinTech Collective.

“Our expansion into Africa is a testament to our continued mission to build more efficient payments infrastructure across the Global South,” Minka’s CEO Domagoj Rozic, “Low levels of financial inclusion, a heavy reliance on cash, and non-interoperable legacy payment systems are just a few of the issues our team in Latin America have successfully overcome and we believe it is our duty to continue creating solutions that benefit society.” 

The company said that its initial focus on Eastern and Southern Africa will be implementing its highly successful model in Latin America, where it bridges the gaps between banks, financial institutions, central banks, fintechs, and clearing houses online through shared and connected ledgers. The company is banking on the similarities in demographics between its home market and the African continent, as well as the latter’s rapidly growing and highly competitive fintech space.

“We’re excited to bring our story and the benefits of our approach to people in Africa, where we’re building impactful connections between financial institutions of all types and allowing teams to build and connect payment systems in days instead of years,” Alexander Perko, Minka’s Growth Lead added.