Yep! has announced the close of a $1.5 million pre-seed round backed by pan-African venture capital firm Greenhouse Capital. The startups intends to establish in all five areas where Nigeria’s E-Settlement operates, supplying consumers, small business owners, and merchants with digital financial services.
E-Settlement serves as a holding company for a variety of financial institutions. PayCentre Africa, the company’s banking agent platform founded by Olaoluwa Awojoodu, for example, operates in Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Togo.
Yep!, a neobank that will harness E-network Settlement’s to get underbanked consumers online and target those who are already online, has been launched by Awojoodu in collaboration with Airende Ojeomogha and Garry Ottosen.
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“We want to bank both Lagos residents and residents of a community in Ikot Ekpene. And, at the same time, we’re not just looking at Nigeria; we’re looking at the entire African continent. Thus, it is truly about financial access for Africans, not just those who are digitally capable, but also those who are not; we are going to bring everyone into the digital world using a combination of digital tools and agent networks,” co-founder and CEO Awojoodu explained.
Why Greenhouse Capital Invested
“This one is particularly special to us at GreenHouse Capital Africa as ESL (Yep spun out of them) was our very first venture investment when we started back in 2016. Yep a financial services super app aiming to leverage Esettlements 100K+ merchants to deliver banking services that improve financial inclusion across Africa. The company will use the round to double their merchant network and rapidly expand into new markets such as Niger, Ivory Coast, Togo and Burkina Faso. Most importantly, the team steering the ship is absolutely steller. Olaoluwa Awojoodu has teamed up with Airende Ojeomogha and Garry Ottosen who bring experience from fintechs like Oxygen and Tally,” Greenhouse Capital said in a statement.
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Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer