Tech Startup, Touch and Pay Joins W22 Y Combinator Accelerator Programme

A cowry card payment system, Touch and Pay (TAP) has been listed in the W22 Y Combinator batch, bringing the number of tech startups with Nigerian origin on the accelerator programme to five.

TAP plans to utilise its backing by the Y Combinator accelerator programme cash-based microtransactions to expand across African markets and create a truly cashless ecosystem by mopping up cash across several sectors with technology.

The company says it has set out to build a unique mobile payment and services platform capturing offline and online transactions in a seamless way and to especially focus on the processing of microtransactions.

The four Nigerian startups earlier listed that would be funded in this year’s accelerator programme include Moni, Topship, IdentityPass and Doja.

The probability that more Nigerian tech startups would get selected in the accelerator programme is very high as Nigerian tech startups are getting a lot of attention from the international community.

Co-founder and CEO of Touch and Pay, Oluwole Afolabi said Touch and Pay has planned to "digitise the entire informal market with contactless cards and perhaps it could be a way to achieve true financial inclusion.”

The company has set out to transform the payment landscape in Nigeria and in Africa by facilitating financial inclusion and ensuring 99.9% reliability in cashless transaction processes in all sectors of the Nigerian economy.

YC, which was launched in 2005, brings together over 100 startups from across the world to Silicon Valley twice a year (winter and summer) for a three-month accelerator programme that culminates into a Demo Day.