Africa loses over $4 billion annually to cybercrime, and this figure is rising faster than most defenses can keep pace.
Key takeaways
- Cybercrime in Africa is accelerating alongside the growth of fintech, mobile money, and remote work.
- Most imported cybersecurity tools are poorly equipped to handle African-specific threats such as SIM-swap fraud and USSD exploits.
- Local context, such as agent networks, low-bandwidth environments, and fragmented identity systems, creates unique attack surfaces.
- African cybersecurity startups are building purpose-built defenses, not generic replicas of Western tools.
- The most effective solutions combine fraud detection, identity intelligence, and behavioral analysis tailored to local realities.
Given how fast Africa’s digital economy is expanding, think mobile money transactions, fintech apps, cross-border payments, and remote work, we can all agree the opportunity is massive. But there’s a disturbing parallel story: cybercrime is scaling just as fast. Estimates put Africa’s annual cybercrime losses at over $4 billion. Beyond money, the costs include trust, system fragility, and slowed adoption.
The problem is that many of the cybersecurity tools deployed across the continent weren’t built for African realities, such as SIM-swap fraud, agent collusion, and attacks exploiting USSD channels and low-bandwidth environments. That gap is where a new wave of homegrown cybersecurity companies is stepping in.
In this article, I’ll walk you through six cybersecurity startups in Africa that are actively protecting the continent’s digital economy.
Top 7 cybersecurity startups in Africa building real defenses
| S/N | Startup | HQ | Core security focus | Who uses them | Funding |
| 1 | Vesicash | Nigeria | Escrow & payment fraud prevention | Marketplaces, SMEs | Seed ($361,000) |
| 2 | YouVerify | Nigeria | Identity verification & KYC | Banks, fintechs | $5 million |
| 3 | Smile Identity | Nigeria | Biometric ID, AML & fraud checks | Stripe, Flutterwave | $30 million |
| 4 | Periculum | Nigeria | Transaction fraud detection | Fintechs, digital lenders | Seed ($640,000) |
| 5 | Entersekt | South Africa | Authentication & transaction security | Tier-1 banks | $20 million |
| 6 | Cypherleak | Morocco | Threat intelligence & cyber monitoring | Enterprises, governments | Undisclosed |
1. Vesicash (securing online transactions)
When I think about where fraud not-so-quietly destroys value in Africa, online transactions sit near the top of the list. Vesicash provides Escrow-as-a-Service (EaaS) for eCommerce platforms, freelancers, and digital marketplaces. More recently, it expanded into a Merchant of Record (MoR) model, handling payments, compliance, and tax obligations across multiple African countries.
Core technology
Vesicash’s platform runs on:
- Real-time transaction monitoring.
- Multi-party escrow with automated release triggers.
- Device fingerprinting to block repeat fraudsters.
Why it matters
Most of African eCommerce still relies on cash-on-delivery, largely because buyers and sellers don’t trust each other. Vesicash helps close that trust gap, making digital payments safer and more predictable.
Traction
- Operates across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Egypt, and Tanzania.
- Serves over 5,000 businesses and processes millions in transaction volume.
- Raised roughly $361,000 in seed funding from investors including Ingressive Capital, GreenHouse Capital, HiiL, and MEST.
2. YouVerify (identity verification built for Africa)
If fraud is the symptom, identity is often the root cause. That’s what Youverify is trying to fix. The company builds digital identity, AML, and compliance infrastructure for African businesses that need to onboard users quickly without falling foul of regulators.
Youverify offers an automated SaaS platform and API for KYC, KYB, background checks, and AML compliance. Banks, fintechs, and even crypto companies use it to verify both individuals and businesses in real time.
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Core technology
The platform combines:
- Government-issued ID verification.
- Facial recognition and liveness detection.
- AML, PEP, and sanctions screening.
All of this is wrapped in workflows designed for high-volume onboarding.
Why it works
African fintechs operate under tightening rules (e.g., NDPR, POPIA, and local KYC regulations), while still competing on speed. Youverify helps companies stay compliant without turning onboarding into a conversion killer.
Traction
- What started in Nigeria and Ghana has scaled fast. YouVerify now supports business verification in 48 countries (145 jurisdictions) and individual verification in 46 countries.
- It has raised over $5 million, including a $2.5 million pre-Series A in March 2024 led by Saudi-based Elm, with backing from Ventures Platform, Orange Ventures, LoftyInc, and Plug and Play.
3. Smile Identity (biometric identity at scale)
Global identity tech typically performs poorly in Africa. Smile Identity is remedying that by training biometric systems on African faces, documents, and realities from day one.
Smile Identity provides AI-powered biometric identity verification and digital KYC/AML tools for businesses operating across emerging markets, with a deep focus on Africa.
Core technology
Their stack includes:
- Facial recognition models trained on African datasets.
- ID document verification across diverse formats.
- AML and compliance tooling.
The local training data is the real differentiator.
Why it matters
Many global tools struggle with African IDs and facial variation, leading to false rejections and broken onboarding flows. Smile Identity changes that by building for Africa first, then scaling outward.
Traction
- Used by global and regional players, including Binance, Mastercard, Moniepoint, and Uber.
- Supports document verification in all 54 African countries and has completed over 300 million identity checks.
- Raised $30 million+, including a $7 million Series A and $20 million Series B, with investors such as Costanoa Ventures, CRE Venture Capital, Norrsken22, Ventures Platform, and Mastercard, which also took a minority stake in 2024/2025.
4. Periculum (fighting transaction fraud)
It’s easy to assume that fintech fraud follows a universal pattern. Well, they’re not. Transaction fraud in African markets behaves very differently from what most Western-built tools are trained to catch. That’s why homegrown cybersecurity startup Periculum exists
Periculum provides real-time fraud detection and decisioning for fintechs and digital lenders, particularly those operating in underserved and mobile-first markets. Its platform helps financial institutions assess risk before money moves or loans are approved.
Core technology
The system uses:
- Machine-learning–driven risk scoring.
- Transaction and behavioral analysis.
- Device and network fingerprinting.
Instead of relying on static rules, Periculum adapts to how users actually behave in-market.
Why it matters
Fraud vectors tied to mobile money, agent networks, and informal behavior don’t map neatly onto Western datasets. Periculum is built specifically for these environments, where false positives can be just as damaging as fraud itself.
Traction
- Works with fintech clients across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and Canada, with a strong focus on mobile money fraud prevention.
- Partners report faster loan processing (up to 60%) and reduced default rates.
- Raised a $620,000 seed round from Techstars and First Fund, and later received equity-free funding from the UNDP Timbuktoo Fintech Accelerator.
5. Entersekt (securing digital banking at scale)
Entersekt provides a cross-channel authentication platform that secures digital banking logins, high-risk transactions, and 3-D Secure payments. It’s designed to work seamlessly across mobile, web, and legacy banking systems.
Core technology
The platform focuses on:
- Secure customer authentication.
- Transaction signing.
- End-to-end fraud prevention infrastructure.
Why it works
African banks face a difficult balance: increasingly mobile-first customers and rising fraud risk. Entersekt’s tools deliver enterprise-level security without assuming desktop-first behavior.
Traction
- Following its 2023 acquisition of Modirum, Entersekt now works with over 900 banks in over 70 countries, securing billions of transactions annually.
- Clients include Nedbank, Capitec, Investec, Equity Bank, Swisscard AECS, and FirstBank USA.
- Raised well over $20 million, backed by Accel-KKR, Endeavor Catalyst, and Nedbank Private Equity.
6. Cypherleak (making cyber risk visible)
A major problem I keep seeing across African and Middle Eastern markets is that most businesses don’t actually know how exposed they are.
Founded in 2022, Cypherleak is a SaaS-based cyber risk monitoring and scoring platform that gives organizations a hacker’s-eye view of their vulnerabilities using only a domain name. Today, it serves over 1,000 corporate clients globally, many of them SMEs.
Core technology
Cypherleak’s platform combines three critical layers:
- Attack Surface Management (ASM) to map exposed domains, subdomains, IP blocks, and open ports.
- Dark web and leak monitoring to detect compromised credentials, leaked PII, and breached passwords.
- AI-powered risk scoring (CypherScore), which assigns a real-time cyber risk rating from 0–100.
Why it matters
For SMEs, complexity is the enemy of security. Cypherleak lowers barriers by making advanced monitoring accessible, and it is playing a growing role in cyber insurance, helping insurers price risk using live data rather than assumptions.
Traction
- With offices in Morocco, Abu Dhabi, and the U.S., Cypherleak has partnered with the UAE Cybersecurity Council and Qatar Insurance Company.
- Raised over $1 million, including a $750,000 seed round, backed by Maroc Numeric Fund II, QIC, and Digital Venture Partners.
Why these African cybersecurity startups are essential
1. Local threat landscape
Cybercrime in Africa doesn’t always look like what you see in abroadthreat reports. Here, attacks are shaped by how people actually transact and connect.
- SIM swap fraud remains one of the most common entry points for account takeovers.
- Agent collusion, especially in mobile money and lending, creates insider risk that global tools don’t model well.
- Low-bandwidth DDoS attacks are optimized for regions with weaker infrastructure.
African startups build defenses around these exact patterns because they’ve seen them up close.
2. Regulatory compliance
Compliance here is strict, fragmented, and fast-evolving. Startups that grow locally understand how to design for:
- The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) 2019 in Nigeria.
- The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) in South Africa.
- Kenya’s Data Protection Act.
Instead of delaying compliance, these startups integrate it into their products from day one.
3. Payment method expertise
Africa runs on rails that many global platforms barely understand. Local cybersecurity startups integrate deeply with:
- M-Pesa.
- MTN Mobile Money.
- USSD banking flows.
That context matters when fraud, identity, and payments overlap.
4. Affordability
Security only works if people can afford it. African startups price in local currencies and are often cheaper than imported tools.
FAQs
Why don’t African companies just use Norton or McAfee?
Most global antivirus tools are built for consumer devices and high-bandwidth environments, not Africa’s digital economy. They focus on malware and endpoint protection but struggle with real issues such as mobile money fraud, SIM swap attacks, agent collusion, and fragmented payment rails.
Which country leads in cybersecurity startups?
Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt lead Africa’s cybersecurity startups.
Are these startups venture-backed?
It’s a healthy mix. Some are bootstrapped, others have raised seed funding, and a growing number are Series-backed.
Conclusion
I strongly believe that African cybersecurity shouldn’t be outsourced. The threats are local. The payment rails are unique. The regulations are unforgiving. And the startups building here understand that in their bones.
If you’re a founder, investor, or operator still relying on imported security tools, this is your nudge. Pay attention to what’s being built locally. Africa’s digital economy will only scale if it’s secured by people who truly understand it.
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