French FinTech company Tagattitude has won a Kalahari Award for its digital banking platform TagPay at the 6th Remittance and Mobile Money Expo held in Lagos.

In an announcement Tagattitude explains that the offering is built with Near Sound Data Transfer Technology and is designed to transform any mobile device into a payment tool – without changing its hardware or software.

According to Tagattitude service providers within the financial sector use several channels, including IVR, the web and sound, to offer services directly to clients via their mobile devices.

Bank transactions are performed via the platform at the point of sale, the company adds.

Yves Eonnet, Tagattitude's CEO, received the award in Lagos, saying that it "was a great honor. The award recognises the impact that TagPay's technology can have in building new financial service ecosystems in Africa. We have built TagPay, bringing the best technology to the table, in order to help financial institutions reach their financial inclusion goals."

Growth opportunity

Industry analysts believe that while there are a great many offerings and service providers entering the Africa mobile money market, there is still room for growth and space for online and mobile-based remittance services.

Earlier this month Alix Murphy, Senior Mobile Analyst at global mobile money transfer service WorldRemit said the vast bulk of remittances globally are still sent in cash through high-street agents or informal networks and bringing these remittances online and into the formal sector will have a positive impact on customers and developing economies.

WorldRemit recently announced that it had raised US$45-million in financing from TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp and Silicon Valley Bank, to support its growth strategy.

The company said it will use the finance to expand its partner network, particularly within the mobile money services space.

"Africa remains home to the largest number of live Mobile Money services in the world, making it a key area of focus for us in terms of building partnerships. The African Mobile Money market also remains a hotbed of innovation for other financial services like insurance and savings built on top of the Mobile Money platform," the company has commented.

It is also awaiting fresh data on mobile money users from the GSMA's Mobile Money for the Unbanked state of the industry report due for release later this month.