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What Is The Average Funding Amount Needed To Run A Fintech Startup In Nigeria, Egypt And Other Countries In Africa?

July 12, 2021

Running a fintech startup in Nigeria, Egypt and other African countries is a tall order when it comes to funding. While no exact amount could be fixed as the standard raise for running a fintech startup in Africa, a historical study of the funding data for fintech startups in Africa gives an insight as to what is expected at every stage of the fintech startup journey. Successful fintech startups, such as Paystack, have however made a remarkable departure from what obtains for a majority of the continent’s teeming fintech startups. After raising a $1.3m seed round, the payments company proceeded to raise only a $10.2m Series A before its acquisition. This is compared to the continent’s unicorns such as Flutterwave, Chipper Cash and Opay, which have at least crossed the Series B stage of funding, and in most cases Series C.

Finding the average funding amount required to run a fintech startup in Africa is also a tough journey as most startups failed to disclose the amounts they raised as well as the relevant stages of the funding, thereby creating uncertainty within various data sets.

That said, based on the curated data below, the average funding amounts existing fintech startups in Africa have used to propel their growth at every stage of their startup journeys are:

Pre-seed: Between $500,000 — $1,000,000

Seed: Between $1,000,000 — $2,600,000

Series A: Between $5,000,000 — $11,600,000

Series B: $20,000,000 — $33,900,000

Series C: $50,000,000 — $108,300,000

In understanding the methodology behind the figures above, the following facts must be borne in mind:

There are more seed rounds for fintech startups in Africa, with majority of the seed amounts uncategorized or unreported.

Fintech startups in Africa raised less pre-seed rounds than seed rounds, and less Series B rounds than Series A. Again, to-date, only about 3 fintechs have reported Series C rounds. This thereby makes the data for pre-seeds, Series B and Series C more accurate.

It is insightful that apart from JUMO, all fintech startups in Africa that have raised Series C rounds have proceeded to become unicorns, (that is, privately-held companies valued at more than $1 billion).

Find a larger table for the reported fundraising activities of African fintech startups for the years covered below:

S/N	Name of Company	Base Country of Operations	Description of Startups	Year Founded	Pre-seed	Seed	Series A	Series B	Series C	Uncategorised

1	MoneyHash	Egypt	Fintech API		Six Figure (2021)
2	Maviance	Cameroon	Agency banking; bulk bill payments	2012						$3m (2021)
3	appsNmobile	Ghana	Payment processing	2015						$1m(2021)
4	Chipper Cash	Ghana	International money transfers	2018		$6m (2019) $2.4m (2019)	$13.8m (2020)	$30m (2020)	$100m (2021)
5	Mozare3	Egypt	Agri-fintech	2020	Seven figure(2021)
6	Mono	Nigeria	Fintech API	2020	$500k (2020)	$2m (2021)
7	BFREE	Nigeria	Credit Management/Debt collection	2020		$800k (2021)
8	ArifPay	Ethiopia	Mobile point of sale	2021						$3.5m (2021)
9	Ensibuuko	Uganda	Microfinance for credit unions and SACCOs	2014		$1m (2021) $500k (2016) $500k (2017)
10	Kashat	Egypt	Nano lending	2020		$1m (2019)				Undisclosed (2021)
11	Payflex	South Africa	Buy now, pay later	2019						Undisclosed (2021)
12	Okra	Nigeria	Fintech API	2019	$1m (2020)	$3.5m(2021)
13	BezoMoney	Ghana	Credit and investment fintech	2019	$100k (2019)	$200k (2021)
14	Zeepay	Ghana	Digital assets	2014		$940k(2020)	$7.9m(2021)
15	Numida	Uganda	Credit fintech	2017		$2.3m (2021)
16	FairMoney	Nigeria	Neobank	2017		$1.4m (2018)	$11.8m (2019)	$42m (2021)
17	Payhippo	Nigeria	Credit fintech	2020	$1m (2021)
18	AppZone	Nigeria	SaaS for financial institution	2008		Undisclosed (2018)	$10m (2021)
19	Paymob	Egypt	Mobile wallet	2015			$18.5m(2021)
20	HUB2	Ivory Coast/Reunion	B2B payments for e-merchants	2018		$296k (2018)				$1.8m (2021)
21	Bankly	Nigeria	Digitizing informal thrift collection	2018		$2m (2021)
22	NowPay	Egypt	Financial wellbeing network for workers	2018	$600k (2019)	$2.2m (2020);	Pre-Series A (Undisclosed; 2021)
23	Nomanini	South Africa	Fintech connecting merchant with distributors	2011						$500k (2021) Undisclosed (2015); $4m (2019) $1.5m(2021)
24	Adumo	South Africa	Payments processing	2019						$15m (2021)
25	Dayra	Egypt	Fintech API	2020	$3m(2021)
26	Flutterwave	Nigeria	Merchant Payments/ ecommerce	2016		$120k (2016)	$20m (2018)	$35m (2020)	$170m(2021)
27	Stitch	South Africa	Fintech API	2019		$4m(2021)
28	MortgageMarket	South Africa	Home loan fintech	2019		$481k (2019)	$684k
29	Popote	Kenya	Remote inventory payments for business owners	2017						Undisclosed (2021)
30	OZE	Ghana	Credit fintech	2017		$700k (2021)
31	Cassbana	Egypt	AI-powered credit-scoring fintech	2020	$1m (2021)
32	OnePipe	Nigeria	Fintech API	2019	$950K(2020)
33	Zeal Rewards	Egypt	Payments rewards	2019		6-figure (2020)
34	Credpal	Nigeria	Credit	2018	$37k (2018)					$1.5m (2021)
35	Pass	Nigeria	Check-out payment solution for ecommerce	2020	Undisclosed (2020)	Undisclosed (2021)
36	FinChatBot	South Africa	Chatbots for financial companies in South Africa.	2016						$1.6m (2020)
37	Makeeba	Cape Verde	POS payments/ Money transfer							$2.8m (crowdfunding, 2020)
38	Flick	Egypt	Cross-border money transfer	2020	$1m(2021)
39	Kashier	Egypt	Enables payments for ecommerce startup	2019		Six-figure (2020)
40	ElGameya	Egypt	Savings for credit union fintech	2018	Six-figure (2020)
41	Eversend	Uganda	Cross-border money transfer/currency exchange	2017						$1m (Crowdfunding; 2020)
42	OnePay	Morocco	Distributor/ aggregator							$409k (2020)
42	Franc	South Africa	Investment robo-advisor	2018		$300k(2020)
43	ProfitShare Partners	South Africa	B2B credit fintech	2017						$5.8m (2020); $1.7m (2019)
44	Jamborrow	Nigeria	AI-powered Robo advisor/blockchain integrated payment	2018						$400k (2020)
45	Khazna	Egypt	Mobile finance services	2019						Undisclosed (2020)
46	JUMO	South Africa	Payroll loans to government and corporate workers	2014			$3m (2018)	$64.5m (2018)	$55M (2020)	$34.2m (2015; 2016; 2017)
47	Aella	Nigeria	Blockchain finance	2015		Undisclosed (2017)				$10m (2020)
48	Migo	Nigeria	Credit scoring	2014			$13m (2018)	$20m (2019)
49	Asilimia	Kenya	B2B payment infrastructure	2017						$350k (2019)
50	Opay	Nigeria					$50m (2019)	$120m (2019)
51	PalmPay	Nigeria	Financial payments	2019		$40m (2019)
52	Zazu	Zambia	Digital banking	2017						$1.5m (2019) $218k (crowdfunding)
53	uKheshe	South Africa	Micro transactions, allowing card users to pay and get paid.	2015		$500k (2019)				$2m(2020)
54	Payitup	Zimbabwe	Processes bill payments	2017						$13m (2019)
55	TeamApt	Nigeria	Agency banking	2015			$5.5m (2019)	Undisclosed (2021)
56	Yalla Xash	Morocco	Mobile transfer	2017						$675k (2021)
55	AZA Finance (BitPesa)	Kenya	Currency trading	2013		$1.1m (2018); $650k (2014)	$6.7m (2017)	$20m(2021); $5m (2018)		$15m (2019) $1.5m (2016)
56	Telda	Egypt	Digital bank	2021	$5m (2021)
57	SpacePointe	Nigeria	PoS	2014						$1.2m (2016)
58	Paystack	Nigeria	Payment solution for businesses	2015		$1.3m (2016)	$10.2m (2018)
59	Yoco	South African	Card payment/PoS	2013		$1.7m (2014)	$3m (2017)	$16m (2018)		$2.4m (2015)
60	Drive Revenue	South Africa	Cloud-enabled financial management system.	2013						Undisclosed (2017)
61	Awamo	Uganda	Microfinance	2015		$550,000 (2015)				$1.7m (2017)
62	Wala	South Africa	Blockchain-powered financial services	2015						Undisclosed (2017)
63	PiggyVest	Nigeria	Automated savings platform	2016		$1.1m (2018); $50k (2017)
64	Lidya	Nigeria	Credit fintech	2016		$1.25m(2017)	$6.9m (2018)	Pre-Series B $8.3m (2021)
65	Thank U Cash	Nigeria	Reward-based fintech	2018		Undisclosed (2018)	Undisclosed (Pre-Series A, 2021)			$410k (2020) Undisclosed (2018)
66	Paga	Nigeria	Mobile payments	2009			$9m (2012)	$25m(2018)		$2m (2012) $700k (2010)
67	KudiGO	Ghana	Mobile-based retail, payments	2017		$490k (2019)
68	Kudi	Nigeria	Money services for the underbanked	2016		$1.7m (2017)	$12.6m (2019)
69	Kuda	Nigeria	Digital bank	2018	$1.6m (2019)	$10m (2020)	$25m (2021)
70	Julaya	Ivory Coast	B2B digital financial transactions, e.g. mobile money, etc.	2018						$550k (2019)
71	Trove	Nigeria	Micro-investing	2018						Undisclosed (2020)
72	LifeCheq	South Africa	Expert financial advisory	2015						Undisclosed (2020)
73	SmartWage	South Africa	Salary payments	2019						$347k(2020)
74	TradeSafe	South Africa	Escrow	2013						Undisclosed (2020)
75	Kwaba	Nigeria	Rent-splitting	2019						Undisclosed (2020)
76	Blueloop	Nigeria	Crypto-based payments	2019	$77k (2020)
77	Cowrywise	Nigeria	Wealth management /financial planning	2017		$220k (2018)	$3m (Pre-Series A, 2021)
78	Raise	Kenya	Crowdfunding							$25k (2020)
79	Afriex	Nigeria	Zero-free transfers	2019		$1.2m (2021)
80	Zoona	South Africa	Payments processing	2012		$500k (2012)	$4m (2012)	$15m (2016); Undisclosed (2016)		$2.4m (2014) $1m (2017)
81	Alternative Circle	Kenya	Mobile-based credit facility.	2017						$1.1m (2017)
82	Entersekt	South Africa	Authentication systems for online and mobile banking services	2018						Undisclosed (2017)
83	InTouch	Senegal	Aggregation of payments	2014						$11.8m (Undisclosed) Undisclosed (2021)
84	i-Pay (Ozow)	South Africa	Bank-to-bank automated and instant electronic funds transfers	2014						Undisclosed (2017); Undisclosed (2019)
85	Mines	Nigeria	Credit-as-a-service	2014		$2.2m (2017); $1m (2017)	$13m (2018)	$20m (2019)
86	Pezesha	Kenya	P2P Lending	2016		$1.1m (2018)
87	Wallet.ng	Nigeria	Smart banking	2018						Undisclosed (2018)
88	Allpro	Nigeria	End-to-end lending for schools	2018	$190k (2019)					Undisclosed (2018)
89	Accounteer	Nigeria	B2B accounting	2015						Undisclosed (2018)
90	Riby	Nigeria	Fintech for credit unions /P2P lending	2016						Undisclosed (2018)
91	Payabill	South Africa	Digital Lending	2017						Undisclosed (2019)
92	Expensya	Tunisia	Spend management	2014				$20m (2021)		Undisclosed (2016); $1.1m(2017) $4.5m(2018
93	OneFi	Nigeria	Lending	2012						$5m (2019)
94	MerQ	Egypt	Chatbot for fintech	2018		Undisclosed (2019)
95	XPay	Egypt	Bill payments	2018		$250k (2018)
96	Lulalend	South Africa	Lending	2014		Undisclosed (2016)	$6.5m (2019)
97	Ozow	South Africa
98	SOS Credit	Morocco	Financial services broker	2016						Undisclosed (2019)
99	My-iMali	South Africa	Digital wallet	2018						Undisclosed (2019)
100	Carbon	Nigeria	Consumer lending	2012		$750k(2014)	$10m (2015)			$5m (2019)
101	Airbuy	South Africa	Ecommerce payments enabler	2016						$12k (2018)
102	MoneyFellows	Egypt	Digitizes chit funds/ SACCOS/Esusu	2015		$600k (2018)	$4m (2020)			$1m(2019)
103	Planet42	South Africa	Credit scoring for mobility finance	2017		$2.6m (2020)				$10m (2020); $2.4m(2019) $2.6m (2020) $1m (2018) $950k (2019) $593K (2018)
104	Peach Payments	South Africa	Payment integration for ecommerce	2012		$61k (2013)				Undisclosed (2021)
105	CompariSure	South Africa	Chatbot for fintech	2017						Undisclosed (2020)
106	Franc	South Africa	Investment robo-advisor	2018		$300k (2020)
107	Paymenow	South Africa	Employee benefits/early access to salaries	2019		$230k (2020)				Undisclosed (2020
108	Wallets Africa	Nigeria	Send and receive money via mobile	2018
109	Zagace	Kenya	Software for fintech	2013		$1.7m(2015); $15m (2017)
110	ImaliPay	Nigeria	AI-powered fintech for the gig economy	2020	Undisclosed (2021)
111	Diool	Cameroon	B2B payments for merchants	2015		$1.2m (2020)				$3.5m(2021)
112	Fawry	Egypt	Electronic payment network	2008		Undisclosed (2008)				$100m(2015) Undisclosed (2017) $22m (2019)

Data based on reported figures for the years covered

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With Fawry’s Unicorn Status, Does Egypt’s Stock Exchange Hold The Unicorn Wand For Tech Startups In Egypt?

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

Africa-focused Payment Startup Chipper Cash raises $6M for Southern Africa expansion

December 17, 2019

Good news for Chipper Cash, the Africa-focused fintech startup that offers mobile-based, no fee, P2P payment services in six countries: Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Kenya. The startup has raised a $6 million seed-round led by Deciens Capital.

“Southern Africa is an area we’re looking to expand to in 2020,” said CEO Ham Serunjogi.

Here Is The Deal

This round of financing was led by Deciens Capital whose co-Founder Dan Kimerling confirmed the fund’s lead on the latest round and that he will continue his role on Chipper Cash’s board. Other participants in the $6 million financing include previous investors, and a few new backers, such as Boston based Raptor Group.
Chipper Cash plans to use the fund to move to Southern Africa — home to the continent’s second-largest and most advanced economy of South Africa.
It also plans to use the capital to grow its team and move into new geographic areas
This will place it in all three corners of the Africa’s triangle of leading digital finance markets.
In September 2019, Chipper Cash expanded into what is now arguably Africa’s largest fintech market, Nigeria.
With its latest round, the startup has raised over $8 million in seed capital.
The digital finance startup’s had a busy 12 months in an eventful year overall for Africa’s fintech scene.
After going live in 2018, Chipper Cash raised $2.4 million in May 2019 in a seed round that included support from 500 Startups and Liquid 2 Ventures — co-founded by American football icon Joe Montana.

A Look What The Startup Does

Chipper Cash is a platform that allows you to send and receive any amount of money across the East African region for free.

“We do not charge any fees at all and there is no minimum amount so you can send any amount,” says Chipper Cash.

The fintech company, co-founded by Ghanaian Maijid Moujaled, now has more than 600,000 active users and has processed over 3 million transactions on its no-fee, P2P, cross-border mobile-money payments product, according to Serunjogi.
The startup also runs Chipper Checkout: a merchant-focused, fee-based C2B mobile payment product that generates the revenue to support Chipper Cash’s free mobile-money business.

There are hundreds of payments startups across Africa looking to bring the continent’s large unbanked and underbanked populations onto mobile finance applications.

Recently, Chinese investors poured about $220 million into OPay and PalmPay — two fledgling payment startups with plans to scale in Nigeria and the broader continent. That money dwarfs rounds raised by other fintech companies, such as Chipper Cash.

On how the startup will compete in this crowded ecosystem, Serunjogi points to Chipper Cash’s gratis-payment structure, among other factors.

“Money doesn’t buy product market fit. It doesn’t buy ultimate success in this space,” he said.

“By offering our product for free, we’re not in a pricing war or competing on a dollar-to-dollar basis. We’re in a pure utility war on who can provide the most value to our users. We’re quite comfortable with our position, and our long-term value proposition will speak for itself over time,” Serunjogi added.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world

Kenyan Fintech Startup Asilimia Raises $350k Funding For Expansion

November 19, 2019

Indeed, more startups are finding safe spots to perch onto as the battle for Africa’s fintech market share intensifies. Kenya’s fintech startup Asilimia, which helps small businesses more easily access various payments mechanisms through a digital ecosystem, has raised US$350,000 in funding as it looks to expand across the country.

The investment will be used to help Asilimia expand from Nairobi to other Kenyan cities, as well as acquire its first 50,000 users and process one million transactions.

Leeching Onto Africa’s Unbanked Population

Founded in 2017, Asilimia aims to empower small businesses through an affordable, easy-to-use and tailored digital payments platform.

“Currently we enable M-Pesa to M-Pesa transfers, but are working on integrating with other mobile money providers as well as banks. Ultimately, we hope to make mobile money transfers entirely free,” Tekwane Mwendwa, Asilimia’s co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), said in a previous interview.

“Despite the tremendously widespread M-Pesa personal accounts across Kenya, Safaricom’s business solutions have to date managed to reach a very small number of customers. We believe that closing this gap does not only represent a tremendous business opportunity, but also has the potential to help unbanked and underbanked MSMEs grow and eventually trickle this wealth down to the very bottom of the pyramid.”

Read also: Kenya Gets New Data Protection Law — Businesses Who Share Personal Data Of Their Customers Without Their Consent Will Be Fined $5000

A Look At What Asimilia Does

Asmilia’s Android app gives business owners direct access to a payment infrastructure specifically tailored to their needs via their mobile phone, eliminating tedious registration processes and allowing them to easily send money at scale, invest savings on transaction fees into insurance or business loans, gain insights into their finances, and minimise payment fraud.

Asilimia has just graduated from the third edition of the Cape Town-based, corporate-backed Startupbootcamp AfriTech accelerator, and while in South Africa took part in the SA Innovation Summit in September. There it won the Africa Cup, run by business development firm the Unicorn Group, securing an investment offer in the process. This has now been formalised as a US$350,000 investment, part of a US$500,000 round the startup is raising.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Nigeria ’s First Digital-Only Bank Kuda Secures $1.6M In New Funding Round

September 11, 2019

Nigeria ‘s fintech startup Kuda — a digital-only retail bank —has joined the league of fund raisers, with a new $1.6 million pre-seed funding.

“As far as I’m aware, there is no other digital bank [in Nigeria] that has a micro-finance license,” a representative for the Central Bank of Nigeria was quoted as confirming Kuda’s banking license and status.

Here Is The Deal

The $1.6 million pre-seed funding investment was led by investor Haresh Aswani with Ragnar Meitern and other angel investors joining.
By this investment, Aswani will take a position on Kuda’s board.
Kuda plans to use its seed funds to go from beta to live launch in Nigeria by fourth-quarter 2019. The startup will also build out the tech of its banking platform, including support for its developer team located in Lagos and Cape Town, according to Ogundeyi.
Kuda also intends to expand in the near future. “It’s Nigeria for right now, but the plan is build a Pan-African digital-only bank,” he said.

Kuda CEO Babs Ogundeyi believes the startup can scale and compete in Nigeria on a number of factors, one being financial safety. He names the company’s official bank status and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation security that brings as something that can attract cash-comfortable bank clients to digital finance.

Ogundeyi also points to offerings and price.

‘‘We look to be the next generation bank where you can do everything — savings, payments and transfers — and also the one that’s least expensive,” he said.

Why The Investors Invested

The investors must have been attracted by the Nigerian Central Bank’s increasing policy towards financial inclusiveness, as well as the staggering number of the unbanked in Nigeria. Nigeria’s first online-only bank hopes to capitalise on this opportunity. Apart from investing, Haresh Aswani the lead investor would now be sitting on the company’s board.

In both raw and per capita numbers, Nigeria has been slower to convert to digital payments than leading African countries, such as Kenya, according to joint McKinsey Company and Gates Foundation analysis done several years ago. The same study estimated there could be nearly $1.3 billion in revenue up for grabs if Nigeria could reach the same digital-payments penetration as Kenya.

A number of startups — established and new — are going after that prize in the West African country — several with a strategy to scale in Nigeria first before expanding outward on the continent and globally.

San Francisco-based, no-fee payment venture Chipper Cash entered Nigeria this month.

Series B-stage Nigerian payments company Paga raised $10 million in 2018 to further grow its customer base (that now tallies 13 million) and expand to Asia and Latin America.

Read Also: Three Months After Launch, South Africa’s First Digital Bank Hits 500,000 Customers.

What Kuda Does

Kuda is a Lagos and London-based company. It recently launched the beta version of its online mobile finance platform. Kuda also received its banking license from the Nigerian Central Bank, giving it a distinction compared to other fintech startups.

“Kuda is the first digital-only bank in Nigeria with a standalone license. We’re not a mobile wallet or simply a mobile app piggybacking on an existing bank,” Kuda bank founder Babs Ogundeyi told TechCrunch.

“We have built our own full-stack banking software from scratch. We can also take deposits and connect directly to the switch,” Ogundeyi added, referring to the Nigeria’s Central Switch — a SWIFT-like system that facilitates bank communication and settlements.

Kuda offers checking accounts with no monthly-fees, a free debit card, and plans to offer consumer savings and P2P payments options on its platform in coming months.

“You can open a bank account within five minutes, do all the KYC in the app, and you get issued a new bank account number,” according to Ogundeyi.

Ogundeyi — a repeat founder who exited classifieds site Motortradertrader.ng and worked in a finance advisory role to the Nigerian government — co-founded Kuda in 2018 with former Stanbic Bank software developer Musty Mustapha.As of 2014, Nigeria has held the dual distinction as Africa’s largest economy and most populous country (with 190 million people).

To scale there, and add some physical infrastructure to its online model, Kuda has correspondent relationships with three of Nigeria’s largest financial institutions: GTBank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank.

He clarified the banks are partners and not investors. Kuda customers can use these banks’ branches and ATMs to put money into bank accounts or withdraw funds without a fee.

“Even though we don’t own a single branch, we actually have the largest branch network in the country,” Ogundeyi claimed.

Kuda’s plans to generate revenues focus largely around leveraging its bank balances.

“We plan to match different liability classes to the different asset classes that we create. That’s how we make money, that’s how we get efficiency in terms of income,” Ogundeyi said.

In Nigeria, Kuda enters a potentially revenue-rich market, but its one that already hosts a crowded fintech field — as the country becomes ground zero for payments startups and tech investment in Africa.