Fawry takes flight

Coinbase, the largest US-owned crypto exchange, disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it suffered a data breach. On May 11, it received an email from hackers demanding $20 million in Bitcoin or they'd leak sensitive customer data. CEO Brian Armstrong later posted on X, urging users to remain calm. He said less than 1% of users were affected—still not a small number when you serve over 100 million globally.

The hackers reportedly accessed names, addresses, government ID images, and account data of customers. Posing as Coinbase officials, they deceived these users, asking them to send their crypto. Coinbase claims the attackers had help from bribed employees, all of whom have been fired.

The company has refused to pay the ransom and instead pulled a Uno reverse move, offering a $20 million bounty for information leading to the hackers. Still, it's estimating losses of up to $400 million.

ICYMI: In February, Coinbase partnered with Onboard to let Nigerians buy and sell crypto via P2P. While Coinbase now operates in Nigeria through Onboard, the recent hack doesn't affect Nigerians. Onboard manages KYC, compliance, and user accounts, while Coinbase supplies the tech behind the transactions.

But the incident also raises regulatory concerns for global crypto adoption. Base—Coinbase’s Layer-2 network—powers Stripe’s new stablecoin payments feature in 101 countries. A hack like this could spook regulators and slow down broader crypto integrations.

And the timing couldn’t be worse. Just this week—on May 13—Coinbase was announced as the first crypto firm set to join the S&P 500, replacing Discover Financial Services. The breach could stall that momentum and rattle investor confidence. In Africa, where countries like Nigeria and Kenya are warming up to crypto regulation, incidents like this risk reigniting scepticism among regulators—even though similar breaches happen in traditional finance and fintech.

For a company vying to be crypto’s face in traditional finance, it's a reminder that even in the most secure vaults, cracks can appear.

OmniRetail has been crowned Africa’s fastest-growing company—again. Before the confetti settles on that announcement, we would like to answer the question that has been on your mind since the B2B e-commerce startup announced its $20 million fundraise in April. Yes, we know you have been asking, why did Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN), a 64-year-old manufacturing giant, invest in this startup?

If you’re a non-African reader, you probably might be thinking corporate venture capital (CVC) is no big deal; after all, it accounts for nearly half of global venture funding, but traditional companies in Nigeria don’t write as many equity checks. Most prefer to collaborate for mutual growth or to create or finance incubators for startups.

So, what’s FMN doing buying shares in OmniRetail? We asked experts and OmniRetail itself, and the answers boil down to one thing: FMN believes OmniRetail is cracking the future of FMCG distribution and wants to have a stake in that.

Here’s the deal: Africa’s retail market is a logistical nightmare. Ninety percent of Nigerians shop at corner kiosks and mom-and-pop stores, where goods slog through a maze of wholesalers and distributors. By the time an item reaches the consumer, it’s pricier than it should be, thanks to all those middlemen.

OmniRetail’s platform slices through that mess; it currently connects 145 manufacturers (including FMN) to 150,000 retailers via an asset-light network of 85 warehouses and 1,100 third-party trucks. It delivers goods directly to the retailers, offers collateral-free financing to cash-strapped shopkeepers. It also provides real-time data on what’s selling, where, and why. That kind of market intelligence helps manufacturers boost sales and profits.

FMN, a happy customer for years, isn’t waiting for a competitor to snap up OmniRetail and own what looks like the future of distribution. OmniRetail describes it as a vote of confidence. This investment isn’t just a check; it could one day be a lifeline.

The timing couldn’t be better. FMN, fresh off delisting from the Nigerian Exchange and plotting a pan-African expansion, wants to grow beyond Nigeria. Deepening its alliance with OmniRetail, which already operates in Ghana and Ivory Coast, could turbocharge that plan.

Experts who spoke to TechCabal also smell an acquisition on the horizon. OmniRetail is the kind of company traditional firms dream of owning: disruptive technology, soaring momentum, and—unlike many startups—actual profitability. 

Want more details? Check out Ngozi Chukwu’s full report on TechCabal.

Egypt’s first fintech unicorn, Fawry—before it went public—delivered a stellar Q1, posting a 65% revenue jump to EGP 1.79 billion ($36 million) and nearly doubling its net profit to EGP 605 million ($12 million). 

This is no ordinary fintech growth story: every major segment accelerated, from banking services (+56%) to Financial Services (+164%)—a signal of successful diversification beyond payments.

On its business side, the fintech company processed EGP 188.5 billion ($3.8 billion) in transactions, increasing by 62% year-on-year. Fawry processed this amount across 485 million payments on its Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals countrywide.

The company’s gross profit margin climbed to 67.7%, while its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margin surged past 55%. Its net profit margin also grew by 33.7%. This shows Fawry scaling profitably, a rarity among fast-growing fintechs.

Fawry is embedding itself deeper into Egypt’s financial ecosystem, expanding MSME lending (up 91%), launching Egypt’s first softPOS platform, and rolling out embedded finance solutions that integrate lending, payments, and business services.

With a strong balance sheet boasting EGP 9 billion ($179.4 million) in its cash and disciplined cost control, it could allow Fawry to expand with more acquisitions and entrench itself in the B2B fintech space—which it has been focusing on.

After the announcement of results, Fawry's share price climbed to EGP 10.140 ($0.20)—up by 2.22% on Thursday—on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), signalling investors were impressed with the results. Overall, the stock is recovering from a slump on April 22 after it dipped to EGP 9.47 ($0.19).

Retail investors will be keeping a close eye on how Fawry’s superapp, myFawry—which showed promise this quarter—performs in the next period.

This week, Egyptian prop-tech startup Nawy raised $75 million in debt and equity funding. It received a $52 million Series A equity funding round led by Partech, with participation from e& Capital, March Capital, VKAV, DPI via Nclude, VentureSouq, Shorooq, and others. An additional $23 million in debt was secured from major Egyptian banks to support its growing mortgage offering, Nawy Now. (May 15)

That’s it for the week.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. Before you go, how can Nigeria compete in the emerging AI economy? Our latest policy brief, Building AI Literacy: Preparing Nigeria’s Future Workforce Through Education Policy, presents practical steps to transform education and prepare tomorrow's workforce today. Download it here.