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The competition regulator in Kenya has given Moniepoint, the Nigerian fintech that provides business payments and banking platforms, the green light to acquire Kopo Kopo, a Kenya-based company offering payments services and credit to businesses.<\/p>\n
Following the approval by Competition Authority of Kenya (CA), Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt) will expand its services to Kenya<\/a> continuing its growth plans across the continent. Moniepoint, one of Nigeria\u2019s largest business payments and banking platforms, is said<\/a> to be keen on expanding to new markets that have a mature banking or payments infrastructure.<\/p>\n Kopo Kopo enables small merchants to accept mobile money payments from their customers, and Moniepoint seems to be eyeing Kenya\u2019s mature mobile money market which is dominated by Safaricom\u2019s M-Pesa<\/a> service.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Competition Authority of Kenya has approved the proposed acquisition of 100% shares in Kopo Kopo Inc. by Moniepoint Inc. unconditionally\u2026This approval has been granted based on the two key considerations during the merger analysis that; first, the transaction is unlikely to negatively impact competition in the market for digital credit; and second, the transaction will not elicit negative public interest concerns,\u201d said CA in a statement.<\/p>\n Kopo Kopo was founded by in 2010 by Ben Lyon and Dylan Higgins, and has so far raised $5.4 million backed by Accion Venture Lab, Havelin Venture Partners, First Light Venures, and Khosla Impact, according to Crunchbase<\/a>.<\/p>\n