Fintech Radar v1 launched

Builders in Fintech has published “Fintech Radar v1,” a map of early-stage African fintech startups clustered around payments, savings and embedded finance. (buildersinfintech.com) The group’s website says it is a fintech community spanning Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, with resources that include a “Radar” library and newsletter for founders and operators. The post linked by Builders in Fintech on X highlighted companies including CircleFunds, Myaza, Resolva, Zepay and NexaPay. (buildersinfintech.com) (x.com) Embedded finance means putting payments, cards, lending or payouts inside a product people already use, instead of sending them to a bank’s separate app or website. Fiserv defines it as delivering financial services “at the point of need.” (fiserv.com) That framing fits the startups on the radar. CircleFunds says it automates rotating savings groups, Myaza says it offers multi-currency wallets and stablecoin-powered transfers, Resolva says users can send crypto while a bank account receives fiat, and NexaPay markets dollar cards for global spending. (f6s.com) (partners.circle.com) (useresolva.io) (nexapay.ng) The list also points to where founders are still building: group savings, cross-border transfers, crypto-to-fiat spending, business payments and cards that work outside local currency systems. Those categories track long-running frictions in African markets, where informal savings groups, remittances and foreign-currency purchases often sit outside traditional bank workflows. (punchng.com) (bis.org) CircleFunds is one example of that pattern. Nigerian outlets have described the startup as a digital version of ajo or esusu, the rotating group-savings model used for rent, school fees and small-business capital, with software handling records and payouts that were previously tracked by hand. (punchng.com) (thenationonlineng.net) Myaza represents a different lane: cross-border payments built on stablecoins, which are digital tokens designed to hold a steady value against a currency such as the United States dollar. Circle’s partner directory says Myaza uses United States dollar coin and euro coin across networks including Base, Polygon, Solana and Stellar for transfers in Africa and the Middle East. (partners.circle.com) (myaza.co) Resolva and NexaPay focus on spending and settlement. Resolva says its product turns crypto balances into bank-account payouts, while NexaPay says customers can send money, pay bills and use a dollar card for international purchases. (useresolva.io) (f6s.com) (nexapay.ng) Zepay, another company named in the radar, has been described by Techparley and FasterCapital as a Nigerian wallet app for payments, savings and investing. That places it in the consumer-finance layer around everyday money management rather than pure infrastructure. (techparley.com) (fastercapital.com) A radar like this does not verify traction, revenue or regulatory approvals on its own. It does show which product ideas builders are watching in 2026: software for informal savings, cheaper cross-border rails, and ways to spend digital dollars and crypto without leaving the apps people already use. (buildersinfintech.com) (fiserv.com)