YMO, a Franco-Guinean start-up, has just closed a new funding round led by Breega and INCO Ventures to accelerate the deployment of its mobile payment services in West Africa and Europe. Since its creation in 2019, this young Fintech has had a clear ambition: to become an African champion in digital finance. This new round of financing will allow the start-up to develop beyond the French and Guinean borders, where it has already succeeded in attracting nearly a million customers.
Following a funding round that began eight months ago, YMO closed its seed round in mid-February. Several venture capital investment funds, including Breega and INCO Ventures, have placed their trust in YMO. The Guinean nugget, which is revolutionizing financial inclusion in Africa and its diaspora, thus becomes the first Guinean start-up to raise such an amount from investment funds.
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“Breega, a pan-European venture capital fund dedicated to high-impact start-ups, is proud to support YMO in the deployment of its services and supports this promising young African start-up. We are convinced of the essential role played by Fintechs, in particular to create added value and to respond to the weaknesses of banking and the financial system in Africa. The support given to YMO is part of this approach, that of strengthening its position on the market and of being a key player in West Africa”, specifies Ben Marrel, CEO and one of the co-founders of Breega. .
“With the aim of making as many people as possible bankable, YMO is in line with the worthy line of impact Fintechs. INCO Ventures is proud to drive this new African champion who combines ambition and financial inclusion”, adds Carole Cazassus, Investment Director, INCO Ventures.
Founded in 2019 by Abdoulaye Barry, YMO started by offering an instant mobile payment service between France and Guinea. In October 2022, following obtaining its approval as an electronic money issuer from the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea, the start-up successfully launched its local payment service. To date, YMO has attracted nearly one million users. While the penetration rate of smartphones in Africa will reach 70% in 2024 and monetary transactions via mobile money are experiencing a sharp increase, YMO’s services are intended to extend to all of West Africa, to reach African populations wherever they are located
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In addition to its expansion, YMO plans to strengthen its Tech and Compliance workforce. The young start-up aims to recruit around twenty new employees to expand its R&D team (developers, data scientists, UX designers, project managers), but also its compliance department in Europe and Africa.
“This fundraising will allow us to continue our development on a sound basis. We intend to build a sustainable business that meets real needs and substantially improves the lives of our customers. With the ambition to transform the daily lives of more than a billion people in Africa, the support of Breega and INCO Ventures reinforces our determination to build, together, an African champion of digital finance. All our thanks go to those who support the key stages of this project”, concludes Abdoulaye Barry, founder and CEO of YMO.
About Breega
Breega supports the visionaries and creators of the world of tomorrow, from the conception of their idea to its impact. We raised our first fund in 2015 and now have +500 million euros in assets under management and +70 startups in our portfolio. Created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, we support start-ups as we would have liked to be in their place. Our investment proposal is dedicated to what we call “full-stack funding”. We bring capital and connections, expertise and experience, support and solidarity to founders throughout their development. Breega invests in Europe and internationally by financing startups from seed to Series A and beyond.
About INCO Ventures
INCO Ventures is an expert management company in venture capital and a pioneer in impact investing which mobilizes more than 500 million euros (managed and/or advised). It invests in the most promising start-ups and unlisted companies in the new inclusive and sustainable economy, with more than 100 companies in its portfolio.
YMO fintech YMO fintech YMO fintech
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