Congolese Fintech, Vault Pay, Becomes 3rd African Startup Selected to Join Y-Combinator S23 Batch

Congolese startup, Vault Pay, has been selected for the Y Combinator Summer 2023 (S23) class making it the third African startup selected for the cohort.

The payments firm has become part of the S2023 group alongside ChowCentral, a Nigerian food delivery startup, and Eden Care, a healthcare startup that became the first Rwandan startup to join the highly-acclaimed accelerator program when it was announced in July 2023.

According to a statement released on Y Combinator’s site, Vault Pay, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is actively developing essential payment infrastructure for the Central African region. This venture was established in 2023 by Ntambwa Basambombo and Christel Ilaka.

Utilizing its infrastructure, the startup provides immediate payment options, user-friendly banking services, and tailored solutions distributed via telecommunications networks. As stated by its creators, Vault Pay’s objective is to ‘facilitate effortless integration and unparalleled possibilities by empowering telecommunications companies to directly dispense banking services.’

“With secure data exchange, real-time transactions, and synchronized operations, we create a harmonious partnership between banks and telcos, amplifying the reach and impact of financial services,” VaultPay indicated.

Y Combinator is one of the most attractive fellowship and accelerator programs for teams that are building in technology, having supported several enterprises including Stripe, Coinbase, Twitch, InstaCart and AirBnB.

When a company is accepted into the program, YC invests a total of $500, 000 in them. African startups that have been backed by YC, have gone on to raise $1.5 more billion.

Some notable Y Combinator alumni include:

• Flutterwave
• Paystack
• Kobo360
• Cowrywise
• MarketForce
• Kudi
• WaystoCap
• WorkPay
• Healthlane
• Trella
• 54gene
• CredPal
• NALA, and
• Breadfast

In 2022, a total of eight African startups were admitted to Y Combinator’s summer batch, with six being fintech companies and the remaining two being food delivery startups.