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Black Swan, a Mauritius-based FinTech startup, has been named the winner of the MEST Africa Challenge (MAC) 2025, following a high-energy Grand Finale at Innovation City, Cape Town on November 26, 2025.
Led by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST Africa) and powered by Absa Group, the MEST Africa Challenge is one of the continent’s leading Pan-African pitch competitions, providing a platform for early-stage startups to secure funding, mentorship, and global visibility.
The 2025 edition turned its focus to FinTech; spotlighting startups and embedded financial solutions driving inclusion, smarter payments, and digital transformation across Africa’s economies.
Co-founded by Derick Kazimoto, Black Swan is on a mission to “Make Africa Bankable.” Across Africa, millions of consumers and MSMEs remain invisible to formal lenders because their data is fragmented, informal, and difficult to verify; a gap that locks out capable borrowers and limits credit growth. Black Swan tackles this challenge by turning fragmented data into instant credit intelligence that enables precise affordability assessments and inclusive lending at scale. Its platform helps financial institutions see real risk, unlocking new pathways for growth and economic mobility across the continent.
“Africa’s financial system cannot see the true creditworthiness of millions of consumers and Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) because their data is fragmented, informal, and invisible to traditional lenders,” said Derick Kazimoto, Co-founder and CEO of Black Swan. “This invisibility locks out capable borrowers, limits credit growth, and slows economic mobility. Our mission is to make Africa bankable.” Kazimoto added, “We believe Africa is shifting from informal, collateral-heavy lending to data-driven credit. A transformation that’s changing how banks and FinTechs trust, lend, and grow.”
MAC 2025 attracted hundreds of applications from eight of Absa priority markets, including Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Mauritius. After a rigorous selection process, ten startups advanced to the Cape Town finale, where they pitched to a panel of judges comprising investors, Absa executives, and industry leaders.
The Grand Finale was a celebration of Africa’s ingenuity; where founders showcased real, scalable solutions tackling challenges across payments, credit, insurance, and trade finance.
“Congratulations to Black Swan and all ten finalists of this year’s MEST Africa Challenge,” said Ashwin Ravichandran, Portfolio Advisor at MEST Africa. “This year showed a clear shift toward building for scale; founders are prioritizing compliance, interoperability, and cross-border readiness from day one. FinTech is now powering real sectors like agriculture, energy, and trade, and that’s where lasting impact will come from. At MEST, we’re inspired to see entrepreneurs building solutions that are deeply local yet globally adaptable. It reflects a new maturity in African innovation; grounded in customer realities, and ambitious enough to scale across borders.”
As the 2025 winner, Black Swan will receive US $50,000 in equity investment, entry into the MEST Portfolio, and the opportunity to pilot commercial solutions with Absa business units across Africa; support that will help the company scale its technology and expand its impact across the continent.
“This year’s Challenge brought forward solutions that reflect how people and businesses want to manage their financial lives in a simpler, more accessible, and more integrated way. Black Swan secured the winning position because their solution meets a clear need and shows potential to complement the services we provide across our markets. The Challenge has revealed just how much opportunity exists to enhance customer experiences through thoughtful innovation,” says Tawanda Chatikobo, Head of Digital for Absa Regional Operations (ARO), Retail and Business Banking.
Now in its seventh year, the MEST Africa Challenge has become a launchpad for early-stage founders across the continent; offering visibility, mentorship, and access to partners who can help them grow. The Challenge continues to serve as a bridge between emerging startups and established industry players, uniting the agility of innovation with the scale of corporate collaboration.
“Congratulations to Blackswan on reaching this milestone. What resonated with us was the technical discipline behind their approach: the architecture, the clarity of the build, and the way they’re thinking about scaling responsibly. For us, the Challenge is about expanding Absa’s view of the technology landscape and identifying where new capabilities or partnerships might emerge.” Tamu Dutuma, Head of Strategy and Transformation for Technology at Absa Regional Operations (ARO).
COGNNA, the Saudi-based pioneer in AI-led Security Operations, announced at Black Hat MEA 2025 the successful closing of its Series A funding round, raising $9.2 million. The round was led by Impact46, co-led by BNVT Capital, and joined by Vision Ventures and tali ventures. This achievement marks a defining milestone in COGNNA’s mission to safeguard organizations against cyber threats through agentic AI, positioning the company as one of the fastest-growing and most influential cybersecurity startups in the region.
The new investment will accelerate COGNNA’s global expansion across product development, sales, and operations. With demand for intelligent and scalable cybersecurity solutions rising, the company plans to enhance its AI capabilities, broaden its reach across MENA and international markets, and strengthen its engineering and SOC operations teams. CEO Ibrahim AlShamrani emphasized that the funding represents more than financial backing, describing it as validation of COGNNA’s vision to protect the digital future of humanity. He highlighted the company’s ambition to build a global force in cybersecurity where AI and human expertise converge to empower organizations to operate securely, innovate boldly, and scale fearlessly.
CTO Ziyad AlSheri reinforced this vision, noting that COGNNA’s mission has always been to transform cybersecurity from reactive defense into intelligent prevention. He explained that the company’s AI-led platform is designed to anticipate threats rather than simply respond to them, creating an Agentic SOC that adapts and protects in real time. The funding will accelerate research and development in AI and automation, enabling COGNNA to scale globally while continuing to deliver proactive and predictive security solutions.
At the heart of its offering is the “Nexus” platform, which delivers measurable impact for organizations by enabling faster threat detection and resolution, reducing operational costs, and integrating seamlessly within minutes. Backed by a leadership team with experience from Fortune 500 companies and global technology leaders, COGNNA is positioning itself as a key player in the $500 billion cybersecurity market projected for 2030. Investors share this confidence, with Impact46 praising the company’s technical depth and agentic AI capabilities, and Vision Ventures highlighting its ability to address real operational gaps in the region. Together, these endorsements underscore COGNNA’s potential to evolve from a regional innovator into a global cybersecurity leader.
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