MTN’s stock offering demonstrates Nigeria’s ability to attract young cryptocurrency investors.
Nigeria’s primary stock market is planning to digitalize the equity sales process to attract younger investors who are more interested in cryptocurrencies and international assets than in local public firms.
According to Temi Popoola, Chief executive officer of the Lagos-based Nigeria Exchange Ltd, MTN Group Ltd.’s Nigerian unit’s successful selling of 575 million shares in December was ‘groundbreaking”, For the first time, he added, the South African telecom carrier offered an “end to end” electronic stock offering to investors.
The offering was 1.2 times oversubscribed, with 85 percent of investors being below the age of 40. Popoola said in an emailed answer to inquiries that this compares to 30% of all stock investors.
“Our goal is to encourage the next wave of growth in an age where investors’ needs are getting increasingly sophisticated and the rising youth demography is relying more on technology to transact business”, Popoola said.
A lot of young Nigerians have run away from trading in local equities, yet, they are still actively buying and selling cryptocurrencies, which, according to Paxful, a Bitcoin marketplace, accounts for the largest volumes outside the US. Africa’s most populated country has the biggest number of retail users making transactions below $10,000, according to Chainalysis.
However, the stock market is the largest economy in Africa may struggle to catch up with the returns given by cryptocurrencies. The Nigerian Exchange 50 Index is a measure of the nation’s largest equities, and it has gained 28% in three years till 2021. Bitcoin made six folds in the same amount of time.
MTN experimented with a digital app known as PrimaryOffer, which was administered by the Nigerian Exchange. The application allows paperless subscriptions, enabling investors to have access to the offer on electronic devices and complete the process in five minutes or less. There was also a paper-based subscription.
“At NGX, we understand the disturbance of new-age technology-based investments has created in the financial industry”, Temi said. “Digital change is the next area of growth for the NGX”.
According to Popoola, the course aims at automating other processes and procedures, like access to company information, engagement of market operators, and resolution of complaints. It also looks forward to attracting technology companies that want to raise more capital to increase opportunities for traders, he concluded.
A lot of Nigeria and Africa-focused tech startups have reached unicorn status, that is, a $1 billion valuation for a private company –recently, including Flutterwave Inc, which boosted its valuation to $3 billion above after its just-concluded $250 million funding round.
Popoola also said that attracting youth to the local stock market will “create and sustain a boost” in the local market as they become owners of the economy in years to come. “They will become primary beneficiaries of the sustainable and long-term benefits that come with investing”.
MTN Share Sales Shows Nigeria Can Lure Young Crypto Users
FG Bars Officials from Using Private Mails for Official Communication
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the National Policy on the Government, Second Level Domain, which aims to protect official communications using government top-level domains, according to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami.
This was when he spoke to State House media on the outcome of the Council meeting on Wednesday in Abuja, which was presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
He claimed that government personnel must now shift from generic domains to the “second level under the government top-level domain” in their websites and emails.
According to him, government officials will no longer be allowed to use private email accounts such as yahoo.com, hotmail.com, or gmail.com for official interactions.
“The paper I provided is our national policy, which the Federal Executive Council has endorsed.” National Policy on the Government, Second Level Domain is the name of the policy.
“This policy has been approved, and it focuses on requiring federal public institutions, ministries, departments, agencies, and all other institutions that are part of the government to migrate from using generic domains in their websites and emails to using our second level domain under the government top-level domain.”
“For example, certain government entities will engage in official communications utilizing private email: yahoo.com; hotmail.com, gmail.com, and it is an official communication,” says the author.
“And someone may retire, or his or her tenure may be completed, or the tenure may be terminated, and he or she will leave with the same email.” And there are a lot of official documents in that email.
“As a result, the government will no longer accept this.” Any official correspondence must be sent via official email. And it should not be a generic email. It’s got to be dot gov dot ng.
“What matters most, dot.ng, is that our national identity be preserved.” There are many different types of second-level domains, some of them are for military purposes, such as mil.ng (military is a short version of military). Nigeria is represented by the dot ng.
“It’s possible to see.gov. gov stands for government, and ng stands for Nigeria. So there are second-level domain categories, as well as our country’s top-level domain. ng must appear in our webpages so that anyone who visits them will recognize that they are from Nigeria. In the case of email, the official name must be reflected.”
The benefits of the new policy, he claimed, would include the protection of the country’s internet as well as national identity protection.
To encourage openness and good governance, he announced that all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) must adopt the new national policy.
Pantami stated that an official circular would be released soon, outlining the best method to begin implementing the policy right away.
He noted that the National Information Technology Development Agency, which is in charge of the government domain and the second-level domain, would be happy to help MDAs implement the new policy.
“Each government employee is also expected to have an official email address via which he can communicate.”
“As a result, the Federal Government of Nigeria has approved this policy.” And part of the policy said that the government would not tolerate noncompliance,” he added.
Freterium Raises $4M Seed Funding to Scale Across MENA
Freterium, a startup based in Morocco has raised $4 million in seed to scale across the country and into surrounding regions.
The round was led by San Fransisco-based investor Partech.
CDG Invest, Y Combinator, Flexport, Swiss Founders Fund, Outlierz Ventures, and a few angel investors from the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa participated.
YC-backed startup Freterium launched in 2020 and is trying to build a holistic approach to solving critical backend challenges of the freight industry.
CEO Mehdi Cherif Alami and CPO Omar El Kouhene formerly worked in consulting and logistics for companies like McKinsey, PwC, OCP Group and Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company) across Africa and the Middle East.
The startup’s Transport Management Software allows companies in the freight industry to manage shipments from the port to the factory, then products from the factory to the warehouses, B2B customers and eventually end customers, according to Alami.
Here’s an example of how the firm’s software works:
Let’s say you want to buy a TV from a merchant that has Freterium software incorporated into its e-commerce website.
The software notifies the consumer when Freterium will deliver the television.
However, behind the scenes, the software assists the shop in checking various moving parts to guarantee that the delivery is completed as efficiently as possible.
The availability of vans, the best path to reach the customer, and comparing cheaper and more efficient options between employing an in-house or third-party courier are just a few of the aspects it looks into.
Freterium software assists in execution and monitoring of shipments by sharing shipment information with parties engaged in the transaction.
After the shipment has been delivered, retailers can monitor invoices from delivery companies, examine performance and service quality, and gain insight into inefficiencies inside their company.
According to the CEO, Freterium onboarded more than 20 enterprise customers in its first full year of operation, gaining 35 percent month over month. Its program is used by over 3,000 people.
While incumbents have significant implementation costs and lengthy installation times that can last months, Freterium says that their platform can be installed in under a week with no upfront expenditures.
Enterprise customers pay between $100 and $1,000 per month after installation, depending on their size.
Freterium is now one of the most well funded startups in the emerging Moroccan ecosystem. Only B2B e-commerce startup Chari and proptech Mubawab has raised more recently.
The funds will be used to invest in R&D, hire more people to quadruple the company’s existing team size within the next 12 months, promote the company’s software, and expand across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, according to Alami.
Abuja-Based Crowdforce, Has Raised a $3.6 Million Pre-series A Funding
Abuja-based CrowdForce, has raised a $3.6 million pre-Series A funding.
The equity-and-debt round was led by Aruwa Capital Management, with participation from HAVAÍC and AAIC.
In order to triple its active agent network of 7,000 this year, the firm intends to use some of the funds to grow its personnel, regional operations, and marketing.
In 2015, Oluwatomi Ayorinde and Damilola Ayorinde started the company as MobileForms, a data collection agent network.
In 2018, while working on TraderMoni, a small credit scheme for micro traders pioneered by the Nigerian government, the company had its first big break.
With its 20,000-strong agents, MobileForms performed KYC on 4.5 million eligible traders and registered them for the TraderMoni program.
Then, there was the challenge of getting money into the hands of these traders.
Because the majority of them were unbanked, sending money to bank accounts was impossible, and for those who did have accounts, banks were located distant from their homes.
CrowdForce, a financial services distribution network that can turn any merchant into a mobile bank branch, saw an opportunity and opted to rebrand as such.
CrowdForce, which is supported by YC, continues to operate its MobileForms products. But it’s PayForce, the company’s second product, that’s in the driver’s seat currently.
PayForce is a POS-enabled system that merchants — who also act as agents — use to provide ATM, transfer, and bill payment services to customers in locations where banks are normally absent and where there is a great demand for cash.
So, over 200,000 agents across Nigeria often refinance their working capital walking considerable distances to the banks or the fintechs they work for like TeamApt.
There are even newer methods, like YC-backed float-as-a-service startup Moni, where agents are offered low-interest loans through a referral and vetting system.
But CrowdForce uses another approach. The company collaborates with larger brick-and-mortar businesses like gas stations and turns them into mobile bank branches that provide float services while storing their cash on a PayForce digital wallet.
CrowdForce also distributes its POS terminals to other businesses like pharmacies and reseller networks.
Ayorinde said CrowdForce will use the funding to distribute more POS terminals to its partners in the next 12 to 18 months.
African Fintech Flutterwave Triples Valuation to more than $3B After $250M Series D
After raising $250 million in Series D funding, African fintech, Flutterwave, has tripled its worth to over $3 billion in just one year.
The San Fransisco-based and Lagos-based startup raised $170 million in a Series C investment from Tiger Global and Avenir in March 2021, valuing the company at $1 billion. Flutterwave has raised a total of $475 million since its founding six years ago (it raised a $35 million Series B in 2020 and a $20 million Series A in 2018), confirming a Bloomberg scoop from October.
Flutterwave has surpassed the $2 billion valuations established by SoftBank-backed fintech OPay and FTX-backed cross-border payments platform Chipper Cash last year to become the most valuable African firm at $3 billion.
Flutterwave, led by the founder and CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, uses a single API to simplify cross-border financial transactions between small and large firms in Africa. The firm also assists companies from outside Africa in expanding their operations on the continent. Booking.com, Flywire, and Uber are some of its foreign clientele.
Since TechCrunch published Flutterwave’s unicorn round last year, the company has grown at an exponential rate. The payments company claimed to have processed 140 million transactions worth $9 billion at the time. After a year, the African payment giant has grown to execute 200 million transactions worth more than $16 billion across 34 nations on the continent.
The amount of businesses using its platform has also shot up. It was 290,000 in March 2021, now, 900,000 businesses use Flutterwave worldwide to process payments in 150 currencies, using different kinds of payment modes: Consumer product barter, local and international cards, mobile wallets, and bank transfers.
While Flutterwave’s market share in enterprise payments has been majorly responsible for this success, diversifying into fintech products for small and medium scale enterprises, consumers also played a crucial role.
“It was intentional on our part because we saw the opportunity in the SMB space, and how they require the same technology type the Ubers and Netflixes of this world use”, Agboola said. “Some of this is obvious in how we made the Flutterwave store bigger, this allows small enterprises anywhere in Africa to build an e-commerce shop virtually at no cost scale”, he concluded.
The Flutterwave Market was just revamped last November, it used to be known as the Flutterwave Store which was launched in April 2020. The e-commerce solution has extended to more than 30,000 traders that retailers and consumers can buy various products. Flutterwave launched Send in December, a remittance program that enables users to send money to recipients into and out of Africa.
Customers use the feature –Send- which was called “Flutterwave’s fastest-growing product” by Olugbenga Agboola – majorly to pay for family support, tuition, and gifts, the company said. Send has processed 4,729 transactions, with the total payments reaching $3.59 million in its first month of being launched. Most of its customers are from Nigeria, U.S, and U.K.
“We are becoming what we have always wanted to be; the infrastructure of any kind of payments”, Agboola said. “There is no sector you will look at in Africa today that you won’t find Flutterwave taking a piece of it and helping sellers and consumers to grow and pitch”.
Flutterwave has its headquarters in the U.S, but it does not run any of its operations there. A lot of its U.S-affiliated businesses have to do with striking partnerships with fintech big-guns like Visa, Discover, Paypal, and Worldpay FIS to ease international transactions with Africa.
This has however changed since last year August. The company hired Jimmy Ku as head of growth to lead its expansion into the U.S. Flutterwave now operates an ACH network in the North American country with few customers using the platform to make ACH payments, payouts, and collections.
In years to come, Flutterwave will look at acquisitions that will further root its authority in the fintech ecosystem. As the fintech giant continues to deepen its authority in the SMB and consumer fintech world, we can presume that smaller upcoming startups, including those it is already backing like CinetPay, may become targets of acquisition.
“Presently, no IPO. The goal is to continue expanding and growing, and definitely, we have plans of being IPO-ready from a ripe perspective, this means continuing to build the infrastructure, crossing our Ts, and dotting our Is if we decide to go that way”, Agboola said.
Healthdart Provides Affordable and Accessible Healthcare in South Africa
Healthdart is making healthcare more inexpensive and accessible in South Africa.
There is perhaps no other industry that contributes as much to the growth of society as healthcare, aside from education. Individuals who are unhealthy are unable to start enterprises, push for good government, or invent life-changing breakthroughs. As a result, it is no wonder that some of the world’s poorest countries have the poorest healthcare.
Morocco was the highest-ranked African country in the World Health Organization’s health system rankings before it was suspended in 2000. Tunisia, the continent’s next largest country, was ranked 52nd. In the 21 years since not much has changed. According to research by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), healthcare in Africa is the worst in the world, with 50% of healthcare spending coming from personal funds.
In May 2020, a few weeks after the forced lockdowns in South Africa, Njabulo Skhosana, CEO of Healthdart, quit his job as the Chief of Staff to the CEO of Discovery Health to build his own company – Healthdart, a company aimed at providing primary health care services.
Healthdart solution employs an app to create a platform for users to order pharmaceuticals and have them delivered for less than the cost of the lowest two-way bus ride in South African townships (R30 or $1.99). Customers can pay with an electronic money transfer before receiving the medications or with a card or cash at the point of exchange.
One might wonder what is so unique about allowing patients to order and having their medications delivered to them wherever they want. Consider this scenario: You have a cold and have received a prescription from your doctor. However, there are no pharmacies in your immediate vicinity, therefore, you must go to the nearest drugstore to collect the medication.
This is where Healthdart comes into. The company not only delivers drugs to patients, but it also facilitates online and physical consultations with doctors and patients. As a result, the startup can provide access to primary healthcare services.
Healthdart proffers its solution using an app and still targets middle-income communities. With a little disposable income, this community is unlikely to have a smartphone, and here is how Healthdart plans on reaching out to them:
“I think if you had asked me this question five years ago, we would not have been able to kick-start this business. As of now, we realize that people can access basic android phones for low prices in the South African market”, the CEO said.
The solution of the new startup is not new, there are startups across Africa that either grant a platform for patients to order drugs or speak with a doctor. Skhosana argued anyway, that Healthdart provides more than just convenience to its users.
“A big part of our value proposition is cutting the total cost of care, and that is quite distinct from what our competitors do. In most cases, the aim is on convenience, which is almost like trying to create an UberEats for medicine. But we see our role as a lot more integral to the person’s way of life and trying to make it as affordable and easy as possible so that people can access the right level of healthcare that they need”.
Since the launch of Healthdart, the company has focused on a few South African towns. It also plans to add more towns and cities to the areas it presently covers before exploring possible expansion options. Although, Healthdart has facilitated over 1,000 medication orders and health consultations across Johannesburg in South Africa.
The startup was formerly housed in the Founders Factory Africa, it has also raised money from BFA Global’s Catalyst Fund as it aims towards building a general store for primary healthcare services in Africa.
MoneyHash Raises $3M to Create A Super-API for Payment Operations in Africa And Middle East
MoneyHash, based in Egypt and the United States, has exited beta with $3 million in pre-seed funding. The startup bills itself as the “first super-API for payment orchestration and revenue operations” in the Middle East and Africa.
MoneyHash reported an undisclosed six-figure investment in June from investors including Ventures Platform, Kepple Africa Ventures, LoftyInc Capital, and lead COTU Ventures.
This extension was similarly headed by the Middle Eastern early-stage fund, with participation from earlier backers in the pre-seed round as well as others such as VentureSouq, VentureFriends, The Continent Venture Partners, and First Check Africa.
Tim Chen of NerdWallet, Jake Gibson of Belvo, and Oriol Tintore of Belvo are among the angel investors.
MoneyHash was formed in late 2020 by Nader Abdelrazik, Mustafa Eid, and Anisha Sekar, who have a combined experience of over 30 years working for firms such as Microsoft, UpWork, NerdWallet, and Sigfig.
MoneyHash sits on top of payment processors, providing infrastructure as an extension of their product backends. This add-on becomes their link to the full payment ecosystem in the markets where they do business.
MoneyHash launched in Egypt in early 2021, allowing 17 firms to join to its API and use payment gateways such as Fawry, Paymob, and PayTabs through its sandbox environment.
After the beta, MoneyHash will integrate with a variety of Middle East and North African payment gateways and processors. Checkout, Stripe, Ayden, Amazon Pay, Tap, and ValU are just a few.
Integration with payment providers in Sub-Saharan Africa (primarily serving Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa) such as Yoco, Paystack, and Flutterwave would follow suit, according to the CEO, who did not specify when the product would be available in the region.
MoneyHash’s clientele come from a variety of industries, including e-commerce, travel & tourism, and remittances, to name a few.
With a few clicks, they can integrate payment providers, incorporate a single checkout system, and use micro-services like transaction routing, subscription management, and invoicing on the platform.
Five of the 17 companies who tried out its sandbox for free are now paying customers. MoneyHash bills these businesses $150 to $1,000 per month, depending on how many payment providers they connect to.
The platform also charges transaction fees, which start at ten cents and decrease as the number of payments increases.
Abdelrazik said MoneyHash aspires to become the AWS. of payments in the Middle East and Africa.
“We believe the payment business, particularly in emerging economies, is fragmented and need an AWS for money, which MoneyHash provides when you connect with it and construct as much as you want.”
MoneyHash plans to use the capital to accelerate its expansion throughout the Middle East and Africa, according to a release.
The company also intends to grow its staff, which presently numbers 15 people spread across the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, and portions of Europe, by hiring mid-level and senior software developers.
In a statement, Amir Farha, creator of lead investor COTU Ventures, said, “MoneyHash is driven by three extraordinary entrepreneurs with extensive knowledge of payments and acumen for product-led execution.”
“They’re drawing a strong team of talent, and their product is ready for prime time following an amazing beta run.” We’re thrilled to be a part of their adventure.”
Binance Takes Crypto Education To Nigerian University Campuses
Binance is bringing crypto education to Nigerian universities. Binance is the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider and it is sponsoring a Campus Masterclass Series for Nigerian university students as part of its objective to increase crypto adoption and financial inclusion for Africans.
In a post-pandemic world afflicted by economic downturn and rising prices, the Binance Campus Masterclass Series aims to empower students by introducing them to practical strategies to obtain financial freedom. Binance is ensuring that students have access to basic resources to help them succeed in school and beyond as blockchain technology continues to revolutionize economies.
The blockchain titan is organizing offline educational activities in three universities for the first season of the series: Federal University of Technology, Owerri; Federal University of Technology, Minna; and Federal University of Lafia, Nassarawa.
The activities of the series started in FUTMinna on 3 February 2022, educating crypto fans about the opportunities available in the crypto ecosystem. The event recorded more than 400 people in attendance, learning about the basics of blockchain, the Binance ecosystem, the basics of trading, and how to protect their crypto and avoid getting scammed.
Binance continues to be at the leading position of crypto education, making sure that crypto enthusiasts are well-grounded with necessary information. Its education system is targeted at increasing crypto awareness in Africa, the Binance Campus Masterclass started in January 2020, providing education that ranges from crypto trading to crypto careers in the blockchain. Ever since Binance has given free crypto education to more than 541,000 Africans.
19 February 2022, Binance is going to host a new educational event at FWT Theatre in Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) that will be led by Binance Campus Ambassadors.
Emmanuel Babalola, Director at Binance Africa said, “Education about Blockchain is at the center of our focus in the global market. As a blockchain infrastructure provider, we are committed to making sure that enough people have access to the right information about the workings of the ecosystem.”
“Africa is a very paramount market for Binance because we see the immense opportunity blockchain brings to the entire world”, Emmanuel said.
South African Stitch Secures $21M for Its API Infrastructure And Embedded Finance Platform
Stitch, a prominent players building and operating APIs in Africa has secured $21 million in Series A funding.
This was after the $4 million Stitch raised out of stealth in February 2021, a prequel to the $2 million extension round it secured four months ago, bringing its seed round to $6 million.
Stitch has raised $27 million in total to date.
The API fintech in South Africa allows organisations to create, develop, and grow financial products. With the new capital, the company wants to develop a “financial graph” ecosystem across Africa, according to a statement made by the company.
The financial graph, according to the company, is an architecture for financial building blocks that enables businesses to develop code once, launch in numerous markets, and scale more quickly thanks to interoperability between geographies, providers, banks, and other forms of financial accounts.
Stitch’s specialises in e-commerce, marketplaces, and platforms, as well as fintechs, which are its most important clients.
As in previous years, African fintechs outpaced other firms in terms of raising venture money, particularly in 2021, when they raised 50-60% of overall VC funding, according to reports.
Stitch debuted its payments solution in South Africa in April 2021, and the next six months saw a 50 percent increase in payments volume month over month.
Stitch launched its payment service in Nigeria in October, with plans to process $10 million in monthly payments by the end of the year.
Pillay, who co-founded Stitch with Natalie Cuthbert and Priyen Pillay, didn’t provide an update on this measure during the call, but did say that since introducing the product last April, Stitch had witnessed a 104 percent month-over-month growth in payments value.
In Q4 2021, the platform had a 44 percent month-over-month increase in customers and a 72 percent increase in linked financial accounts.
“As we continue to develop the payments offering and look at monthly and recurring payments, which are fascinating feature sets for us,” Pillay said, “we’re proud of the partners and customers we have here.”
“A handful of our customers recently went live in Nigeria, which has been quite exciting for us.” We just accept payments there, but we’re keen to expand our offerings. This year, we’ll look into adding data and identity, as well as expanding the payment system in the same way that we do in South Africa.”
The Spruce House Partnership, a long-term investment business based in New York, led this round of fundraising. PayPal Ventures, TrueLayer, firstminute capital, The Raba Partnership, CRE Venture Capital, Village Global, as well as fintech founders and firms including TrueLayer, founders of Chipper Cash, Quovo, and Unit, and Guillaume Pousaz’s Zinal Growth, all participated in the round.
“We’ve been watching African startups for a long time. “Our due diligence revealed that this is one of the most talented teams on the continent, and we are pleased to be a part of what they are creating at Stitch,” Ben Stein, co-founder of The Spruce House Partnership, stated.
Stitch said the funding will allow it to expand its team across offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Lagos, create new product offerings and enter new markets across the continent.
Duplo Raises $1.3M Pre-Seed to Focus on Retail Market for The Next 3 Months
Duplo, a fintech based in Lagos, is seeking to address inefficiencies in the FMCG industry by automating payment processes for B2B businesses, beginning with those in the industry.
Yele Oyekola, a former product lead at Carbon, founded Duplo as a result of his work as an economic policy officer for the United Nations in Africa, where he saw firsthand how individuals and businesses were overly dependant on currency while travelling several nations.
In an interview with TechCrunch, the chief executive officer remarked, “We’re aiming to make cash obsolete in Africa, where a lot of businesses in the distribution area extensively trade in cash for obvious reasons.”
“As a result, we’re concentrating our efforts on distributors, merchants, and aggregators to eliminate the use of cash in this value chain because we all know how expensive cash is and how difficult it is to move with concerns like theft and fraud.”
Distributors can use Duplo to build individual virtual accounts for retailers and agents to make real-time payments or bank transfers, and the platform will automatically reconcile their books.
However, in the FMCG market, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution.
Because bank transfers are costly for certain businesses and agents, they prefer to do transactions using mobile money agencies.
Duplo is unconcerned about this because shops can still use mobile money agents to make transactions to these identical virtual accounts; reconciliation is then performed.
Every transaction carried out on Duplo’s platform is subject to a 1% fee. Businesses also pay between $100 ($0.20) and $1,000 ($2.00) to open virtual accounts, depending on their size.
There is a no-code solution for B2B enterprises to maximize trade with their business clients, vendors, and suppliers, in addition to products that enable B2B companies to automate their payment flows. The platform also provides a dashboard to attribute payment flows to a certain customer, store, or region, as well as the ability to issue or pay invoices, offer credit to their business customers, and extend credit to their business customers.
“We assist organizations automate, embed, and launch payment products,” says the company. In other words, inflows and outflows, automatic reconciliations for firms, and payments embedded in markets. Then there are companies that want to provide BNPL services to smaller companies,” said Oyekola, who co-founded Duplo with Tunde Akinnuwa in September 2021.
Customers reported cost savings of more than 12% during the three-month pilot phase, according to the firm, which debuted it three months ago.
Duplo has also increased by 60% month over month to service over 20 enterprise companies.
Currently, it has processed more than $380,000; however, according to the CEO, Duplo intends to reach $40 million in annualized TPV by the end of Q2.
Duplo was accepted into Y Combinator in November and is currently a part of the accelerator’s current winter batch.
To accelerate its expansion, the YC-backed startup has raised a $1.3 million pre-seed round led by Oui Capital, an early-stage pan-African venture capital firm.
MyAsia VC, Y Combinator, Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, and Mono CEO Abdul Hassan were among the local and foreign investors who took part.
“As a business, there’s just a ton of potential opportunity that we can get into very quickly,” Oyekola said.
“And, while we’re focusing on the retail market for the next three months, we’re also talking to firms in other industries about how our APIs can help them automate their entire payment process.”