Verdant Capital completes its third fintech transaction in 2020
Verdant Capital completes its third fintech transaction in 2020 with the closing of the final leg of a USD 13 million debt and equity raise for the South African innovative car subscription business, Planet42. The capital raise follows transactions completed by Verdant Capital for innovative productive lease-financing business in East Africa, Tugende and technology-driven SME lender in South Africa, Retail Capital. Verdant Capital raised a total of USD 40 million in the sector in 2020, evidencing strong support for the sector in Africa from a variety of investors types, and from investors from around the World.
In total in Africa in the first 11 months of 2020 there was total of USD 501 million of transactions across M&A and capital raising in the fintech sector. This represents almost exponential growth over the last five years, as tech businesses have disrupted the African financial services sector leapfrogging outdated business practices and often moribund physical infrastructure.
Verdant Capital, based on its own pipeline, expects sector deal volumes in 2021 to again outstrip the prior year.