Bridgecard, a Lagos-based fintech startup that combines debit cards, bank accounts, and fintech wallets into one card and an app, has announced that it has raised $440,000 in pre-seed funding from ABV funds, Ingressive Capital, Voltron Capital, Venture Platform, Velocity Digital, and Berrywood Capital. Johnson Yaya, Kennedy and Duke from Kippa, and Miracle Anyanwu are additional angel investors in this round.
Bridgecard was founded in Nigeria in October 2021 by Owumi Festus and Tunde Adewole to alleviate the problem of managing various bank accounts, apps, and easy access to money.
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Bridgecard combines all your cards, bank accounts, and fintech wallets into one card and an app, enabling users to conduct online transactions, pay bills, and withdraw money from any linked account from within the app. In addition, they provide a physical card that permits withdrawals from any Nigerian or international bank account as well as a dollar card with a $10,000 monthly spending limit.
According to the company’s co-founder, Owumi Festus, they believed they were on the right track after early user research revealed in further detail the difficulties Nigerians confront in managing multiple accounts.
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“They either don’t have an ATM card for one bank because they can’t afford to wait in the bank’s huge lines, or it’s a fintech app for savings and investing, therefore no card is granted to withdraw directly from it. Others are unable to set up mobile banking for their accounts, making it impossible for them to make purchases. The new $20 monthly transaction limit that their banks placed on their cards was yet another issue that they all complained about “Festus claimed.
Bridgecard is a novel solution that combines numerous bank accounts and fintech wallets onto a single card and app, as well as a few other unique features. These include access to a virtual dollar card with a monthly maximum of over $10,000, a physical dollar card that controls both Naira and Dollar transactions, the ability to transfer money from different accounts, the payment of bills, and an auto-mount expenditure management tool.
This application enables users to better manage their finances, have easier access to their funds, make foreign purchases, and protect their funds.
After a private beta period in which Bridgecard debuted to 120 customers and handled over $70,000 in transaction volume within two months, they have recently gone public and are now accessible for download.
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When asked about the security of the platform and how user funds are safeguarded, Bridgecard listed a few security features and claimed to offer greater protection than regular debit cards.
This is because, unlike debit cards, which provide complete access to an account’s funds in the event of theft, Bridgecard assures that no amount may be withdrawn from a user’s bank account in excess of the amount loaded onto the card. A PCIDSS license assures the security and confidentiality of each user’s information, as well as a unique picture security password that provides users with a fake balance while in crisis or under attack.
Tunde Adewole, CEO and co-founder of Bridgecard, stated: “We created Bridgecard because it is tough to have a single bank and even more challenging to manage many bank accounts. We intended to tackle this issue by developing an operating system for money, a single app that would allow you to spend, send, and view the money in all of your bank accounts and wallets.”
“Additionally, we desired to give our users with a single card that can be used for both online and offline transactions. Bridgecard evolved from a smartphone app that my co-founder and I used to improve our lives to something that attracted over 5000 individuals. We cannot wait to fix this issue for all Africans “Adewole added.
With the pre-seed capital of $440,000, the business intends to expand the number of bank accounts that may be linked to the platform. Bridgecard will also grow to enable crypto wallets in supported countries, increase product distribution, and resolve online and card payment issues more effectively.
Bridgecard’s offers are quite distinctive, despite the fact that the company is still in its infancy in this market and there are a few items that are similar.
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As stated by the CEO, Bridgecard’s long-term objective is to become the financial operating system in Nigeria and throughout Africa. With their team and investors, they are prepared to create a long-lasting product and enhance Nigerians’ financial access and management. The recent app release and pre-seed funding are merely the initial steps towards attaining this objective.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh