PiggyVest, a Nigeria-based digital savings and investment platform, revealed in a newsletter on January 1st, 2022 that it paid out about N242 billion (about $580 million) to 3.5 million users in 2021. This amount of payout is more than double of the disclosed payout to customers in 2020, which was N90 billion.
Somto Ifezue, PiggyVest CEO and co-founder, authored the newsletter. “For the past 5 and a half years, my amazing team and I have been committed to building a product that truly benefits you…With over 3.5 Million customers and over N242 Billion Naira successfully paid out in 2021 alone, we are once again saying thank you for trusting us,” the newsletter reads.
Ifezue, in the newsletter, further shared what customers can expect from the company in 2022. He shared that the startup is “overhauling” its app to ensure it is more user-friendly and secure, that customers can expect “better and faster” customer support, also that more investment opportunities will be provided and lastly, “more features” that will continue to help customers with ther finances.
PiggyVest was founded in 2016 by Joshua Chibueze, Somto Ifezue and Odunayo Eweniyi as piggybank.ng. Chibueze has revealed that a tweet about saving N1,000 daily in a saving box inspired the creation of the startup. The startup can be regarded as a digital “kolo” (a saving box), and saw users save N21 million in its first year.
PiggyVest has features that make customers fond of the app, such as offering 8% to 13% interest rates per annum on savings; a “SafeLock” savings option that lets users save an amount for a given period without access to it — to prevent breaking one’s savings; an autosave option for daily, weekly or monthly automatic savings; amongst others. The savings and investment platform has realised growth to the point of acquiring a smaller competitor Savi.ng in July 2021.
