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💸 LemFi Acquires Pillar to Expand Credit Access for UK Immigrants

💸 LemFi Acquires Pillar to Expand Credit Access for UK Immigrants

Plus:💰DisrupTech Invests in Nigeria’s Winich Farms

Innovation Village
June 17, 2025

Today’s Menu ☕️

💸 LemFi Acquires Pillar to Expand Credit Access for Immigrants in the UK
💰 DisrupTech Invests in Nigeria’s Winich Farms to Drive Agri-Fintech Growth in Africa
🚙 Tesla Begins African Expansion with New Casablanca Office
📺 DStv Weekly Payment Coming Soon to Nigeria

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💸 REMITTANCES

LemFi Acquires Pillar to Expand Credit Access for Immigrants in the UK

In a decisive step toward expanding its footprint in immigrant financial services, London-based fintech LemFi has acquired Pillar, a UK startup focused on credit access for newcomers. The deal is more than a standard acquisition—it’s a powerful alignment of mission and technology aimed at solving a long-standing problem for millions of immigrants: fair and timely access to credit.

Pillar, co-founded by former Revolut executives Ashutosh Bhatt and Adam Lewis, made waves in 2022 when it raised £13 million in pre-seed funding to build credit products for immigrants arriving in the UK. That vision—enabling immigrants to start financial life afresh without being penalized for lacking UK-specific credit histories—will now be carried forward and scaled through LemFi’s platform.

With regulatory approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, LemFi is now poised to become the first major remittance company to offer credit as a central product. This move significantly strengthens LemFi’s ambition to become a full-stack financial platform for immigrants around the world....……continue reading

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💰 INVESTMENTS

DisrupTech Invests in Nigeria’s Winich Farms to Drive Agri-Fintech Growth in Africa

Egypt-based early-stage fintech investor, DisrupTech Ventures, has made a landmark entry into Sub-Saharan Africa with its investment in Winich Farms, a Nigerian agri-fintech startup revolutionizing market access and financial inclusion for smallholder farmers. Though the amount was not stated, this strategic move forms part of Winich’s pre-Series A round and marks DisrupTech’s first investment outside of Egypt. Winich Farms announced that it secured $3 million in October 2024.

Founded in Lagos, Winich Farms is confronting two major pain points in Nigeria’s agricultural sector—market fragmentation and the widespread exclusion of smallholder farmers from formal financial systems. Despite the sector contributing over 21% to Nigeria’s GDP and employing a large portion of the population, most farmers remain disconnected from structured markets and credit services.

Winich Farms is changing that. Its digital platform connects more than 180,000 smallholder farmers across 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states to a reliable network of off-takers, such as food processors and retailers. By eliminating costly intermediaries, Winich is improving farmer profitability and creating a more transparent agricultural value chain........…continue reading

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🚙 ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Tesla Begins African Expansion with New Casablanca Office

Tesla has officially launched its long-anticipated African venture, opening its first office on the continent in Casablanca, Morocco. This move marks the beginning of a carefully planned Tesla African expansion and builds on earlier infrastructure investments made by the company in the region.

The new office is the headquarters of Tesla Morocco, a registered entity formally established on May 27, 2025, and is located in the upscale Casablanca Marina business district. More than just a milestone, the facility highlights Tesla’s commitment to offering a wide range of services, including vehicle sales, maintenance, EV charging station installations, and the deployment of solar and battery energy systems.

Although the office launch is recent, Tesla’s entry into Africa has been in the works for several years. In 2021, the company discreetly deployed Hybrid Superchargers in Tangier and Casablanca. These charging stations—initially limited in accessibility—were intended to assess market readiness and boost brand awareness in a region where electric mobility is still emerging.…...…continue reading

📺 MEDIA

DStv Weekly Payment Coming Soon to Nigeria

MultiChoice, the parent company of DStv, is taking a bold step to redefine how Africans pay for television. In response to shrinking subscriber numbers and growing economic pressures, the company has launched a pilot program offering DStv weekly payment options—a move that could revolutionize pay-TV in Africa.

This new payment model is currently being tested in Uganda, where the company has rolled it out quietly over the past seven weeks. Rather than requiring a full monthly commitment, users can now opt to pay for just one week of access at a time. If the trial proves successful, MultiChoice has signaled its intention to expand DStv weekly payment to other major markets, including Nigeria.

The shift is more than just a creative idea. It’s a survival strategy. MultiChoice’s recently released financial report for the year ending March 31, 2025, reveals a troubling trend. Revenue from its core pay-TV business dropped 9% to $2.87 billion (ZAR50.8 billion), while operating profit fell by 34%. The company also saw a dramatic decline in active linear subscribers, losing 2.8 million over the last two years. Nigeria alone accounted for 1.4 million of these losses—over 75% of the total drop in the Rest of Africa segment.......…continue reading