Moniepoint, an African fintech startup, has gained unicorn status after securing $110 million in funding, with Google being one of the investors.
Development Partners International’s African Development Partners (ADP) III fund led the Series C round. Other investors, including African private equity firm Verod Capital and existing investor Lightrock, participated.
Moniepoint’s Will Break New Frontiers With Funding
Moniepoint, backed by QED Investors, British International Investment (BII), and Endeavor Catalyst, has raised over $180 million since its launch in 2015.
According to the Financial Times, this round makes Moniepoint a unicorn—a private company with a $1 billion or more valuation. The African fintech was last valued at slightly over $800 million in a QED-led round two years ago.
Moniepoint will use the new funding to accelerate its growth across Africa (90% of its business comes from Nigeria) as it builds digital payments, banking, foreign exchange (FX), credit, and business management tools.
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“The opportunities that exist in Nigeria also exist in multiple countries,” Eniolorunda told the Financial Times. “They are at different scales and levels of development; some countries are 10 to 15 years behind Nigeria, and very few are ahead. We are looking at options in our toolkit and finding which ones would be the best to launch into a country, and that’s the work we’re doing right now.”
Nigerian FinTech Giant, Moniepoint
Moniepoint, founded in 2015, initially provided infrastructure and payment solutions for banks and financial institutions before pivoting to become a business banking provider, an area in which it has found remarkable success. The startup was founded by Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike.
The fintech startup caters to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across Nigeria, offering working capital, business expansion loans, business management tools such as expense management (business payment cards), accounting and bookkeeping solutions, and insurance.
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The fintech, which powers most of Nigeria’s point of sale (POS) transactions as the country’s largest merchant acquirer, claims it processes over 800 million transactions, with monthly total value exceeding $17 billion.
Its popularity soared in February 2023 during the central bank’s ill-fated attempt to replace Nigeria’s currency notes, which left banks unable to cope with the demand for cash. This incident consolidated Moniepoint’s position as a market leader in Nigeria’s agent banking space.
Joining Africa’s Unicorn Club
Moniepoint’s latest capital raise comes amid a broader global funding slowdown for start-ups. The new financing round will almost triple the company’s valuation, around $400 million in a 2022 funding round in which it raised $50 million.
However, the company’s post-money valuation means it will become the continent’s eighth unicorn. It will join other African unicorns such as MNT-Halan, Interswitch, Flutterwave, Chipper, OPay, Wave, and Andela.
Moniepoint founders Tosin Eniolorunda (left) and Felix Ike (right): Image