The payments frenzy is going global, and Africa is catching the bug.So far this year four of the continent's financial-technology firms have reached or exceeded billion-dollar valuations, more than doubling Africa's population of "unicorns".OPay, a mobile-payments company, acquired its horn in August, after raising funding from investors including SoftBank, a Japanese firm.Other recent unicorns include Wave, a Senegal-based startup that runs a mobile-money network; Chipper Cash, which offers peer-to-peer payments; and Flutterwave, which simplifies payments for businesses.As foreign investment pours in, Africa's fintech firms are expanding both across the continent and into new services.Africa is an obvious choice for fintech investors.They are betting that young African talent can innovate its way out of the region’s most pressing financial problems faster than legacy firms can.

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支付狂潮正在全球范围内蔓延，非洲也赶上了。今年到目前为止，非洲大陆的四家金融科技公司的估值已经达到甚至超过了10亿美元，是非洲“支付独角兽”两倍多。Opay是一家移动支付公司，在从日本软银公司等投资者那里筹集资金后，于8月份收获了它的“角”。独角兽俱乐部的其他公司有：运营移动货币网络的塞内加尔初创公司Wave；提供P2P支付的Chipper Cash；以及简化企业支付的Flutterwave。随着外国投资的涌入，非洲的金融科技公司正在整个非洲大陆扩张，并拓展到新的服务领域。对于金融科技投资者来说，非洲显然是一个不错的选择。他们相信，非洲的年轻人才可以比传统公司更快地创新，摆脱该地区最紧迫的金融问题。

By 2025 the continent will be home to 1.5bn people, most of whom will have grown up in the era of the internet.Nigeria, which has received almost two-thirds of Africa's fintech investments this year, has a young and entrepreneurial population.But more than half of Nigerians do not have a bank account.Across the continent, digitally literate unbanked (and underbanked) people, who have long been largely ignored by conventional lenders, are instead turning to the upstarts.In Ivory Coast, for example, 94% of pupils' school fees were being paid using mobile money by 2014.This makes it fertile territory for companies like Wave, which moved into the country in April.One reason for firms to expand geographically stems from the African Continental Free Trade Area, a deal that was first agreed on in 2018 and which has now been ratified by 38 countries.The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System was launched in September as part of the deal, in order to make the region's many systems work better together.

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到2025年非洲大陆将拥有15亿人口，其中大多数人将成长于互联网时代。尼日利亚今年获得了近三分之二的非洲金融科技投资，拥有一批年轻的企业家。但超过一半的尼日利亚人没有银行账户。在整个非洲，长期以来被传统银行忽视的没有银行账户（或信贷不足）的人，现在正转向新兴市场。例如到2014年，科特迪瓦94%的学生学费是使用移动支付提交的。科特迪瓦对于Wave这样的移动支付公司来说就是一块沃土，Wave于4月份进入科特迪瓦。企业扩大地域范围的原因之一是2018年签订的非洲大陆自由贸易区协议，目前该协议已得到38个国家的批准。协议中的泛非支付和结算系统于9月份启动，目的是让该地区的许多系统更好地协同工作。因此，投资者们正在支持那些雄心勃勃向海外扩张的公司。

Flutterwave had reached more than 33 African countries by the time of its latest funding round this year; those taking part included Tiger Global, an investment firm based in New York.For the biggest African fintechs, simple payments are only an entry point.OPay was founded three years ago and was once a ride-hailing app.It now offers interest-free credit that is easier for workers in informal jobs to get than bank loans.The firm, now worth around $2bn, is about as valuable as Nigeria's biggest bank.Chipper Cash, which is backed by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is taking its vision beyond Africa.It lets Nigerians in Britain send money home instantly, and could revolutionise transfers in sub-Saharan Africa, which has some of the highest remittance costs in the world.Banks may not be the only incumbents feeling threatened by the newcomers.In some cases telecoms providers, which also provide mobile money, are drastically lowering their fees as competition in payments hots up.

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截至今年最近一轮融资时，Flutterwave已经覆盖了33个非洲国家；参与融资的公司包括总部位于纽约的投资公司老虎环球（Tiger Global）。对于非洲最大的金融技术公司来说，简单支付只是一个切入点。Opay成立于三年前，曾是一款叫车软件。它现在为无正式工作的工人提供无息信贷，比去银行要容易得多。该公司目前价值约20亿美元，与尼日利亚最大的银行价值相当。由亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝佐斯支持的Chipper Cash正将目光投向非洲以外地区。它可以让在英国的尼日利亚人立即汇款回家，并可能彻底改变撒哈拉以南非洲地区的汇款方式，该地区的汇款成本是世界上最高的。银行可能不是唯一感受到新兴公司威胁的机构。在某些情况下，随着支付领域的竞争加剧，提供移动支付服务的电信提供商正在大幅降低费用。

The battle leaves regulators struggling to control an industry that is rapidly evolving.Wave is moving through the continent at pace, and is now available in four countries.Despite a bumper year, Africa's biggest startups are still relatively young compared with those in the rest of the emerging world.Getting payments right in such a large market could unlock a wealth of opportunity.Iyin Aboyeji, a co-founder of Flutterwave and an investor, says international venture capitalists are realising that Africa "looks a little bit like China in the 1970s.Folks are hoping to get in early and do some good deals."The emergence of rigorous cross-continental competition this year shows that African fintech is nonetheless maturing, and that the world is at last beginning to pay attention.

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这场战斗让监管机构难以控制这个快速发展的行业。Wave在非洲大陆快速发展，目前已在四个国家推出。尽管今年是丰收的一年，但与其他新兴市场相比，非洲最大的初创企业仍然相对年轻。在这样一个巨大的市场上进行支付推广可以创造大量的机会。伊茵·阿博耶吉是Flutterwave的联合创始人和投资人，他说，国际风险资投资家正在意识到非洲“看起来有点像20世纪70年代的中国。资本家们都希望早点入驻，做些好买卖。”今年出现的激烈的跨洲竞争说明非洲的金融科技正在趋于成熟化，世界终于开始关注了。