Nigerian fintech Raenest has raised $11M in Line A investment to make bigger its achieve throughout Africa.
Led via QED Buyers, the investment spherical additionally were given participation from pan-African VC corporations Norrsken22, Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, and Seedstars.
The fintech startup will glance to deepen its presence in Nigeria and stock licenses in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, and the U.S.
What’s Raenest
As Africa’s tech ecosystem continues to blossom, extra crowd from the area are touchdown faraway jobs with obese tech corporations and world startups. Alternatively, receiving bills left-overs a drawback for lots of freelancers and faraway employees.
They try to clear accounts that settle for U.S. bucks, face sluggish invoicing and fee processes, and it doesn’t support when their international employers utility incompatible fee platforms.
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Victor Alade, in conjunction with co-founders Sodruldeen Mustapha and Richard Oyome, introduced Raenest 2022 as some of the many African fintech corporations to deal with this weakness.
Thru its retail product, Geegpay, Raenest do business in freelancers digital USD, GBP, and EUR accounts to obtain bills, govern multi-currency wallets, and convert currencies. It additionally supplies digital and bodily debit playing cards that settle for a couple of currencies, corresponding to U.S. bucks.
Despite the fact that the startup began as an Employer of File (EOR), serving to international corporations pay African staff in compliance with native norms, they briefly pivoted once they discovered that the actual factor was once folks suffering to obtain bills from those corporations.
Since launching in 2022, Raenest has processed over $1 billion in bills — a 160% build up over the pace two years — to freelancers and companies throughout Africa. Lately, over 700,000 folks utility the platform to obtain bills from world platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Gusto.
Raenest Winning Pivot
Because the group won traction with freelancers, industry signups started to stand, too. The workforce discovered African corporations additionally wanted international accounts to streamline cross-border transactions.
“Businesses started asking to get fixed bank accounts to simplify payments. That’s when we started thinking: How big is this opportunity? Who else is building for Africa?” Alade mentioned.
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In March 2024, the startup expanded its platform to support companies streamline global remittance with a fresh emblem, Raenest for Industry. The addition of commercial banking couldn’t have come at a greater year. Round this year, U.S.-based fintech Mercury started restricting business accounts from a number of nations, together with portions of Africa.
Lately, over 300 corporations depend on Raenest to bundle bills from global consumers, lift capital from traders, and put together cross-border bills. Its notable endeavor clientele contains startups like Moniepoint, Helium Condition, Fez Supply, and Matta.
Increasing Operations Throughout Africa
Raenest recently operates in Nigeria below a cash switch license. As a part of its expansion plans, the corporate will deepen its presence in Nigeria and stock licenses in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, and the U.S.
The corporate has banking partnerships within the U.S. and U.Okay. and is operating to stock extra in those areas because it scales. Alongside the way in which, it goals to draw skill to aid its growth via combining Geegpay and Raenest for Industry below a unmarried emblem, Raenest. The Line A spherical brings Raenest’s general investment to $14.3 million.
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Top investor QED, some of the global’s manage fintech VC corporations, has often larger its footprint in Africa since 2022, and now, Raenest. “We firmly believe that by bridging the gap between local and global markets, Raenest will unlock new opportunities for African entrepreneurs, freelancers and businesses, ultimately driving greater economic empowerment across the continent,” mentioned Gbenga Ajayi, spouse and head of Africa and the Heart East at QED Buyers.
Major Symbol: Raenest co-founders From L-R, Richard Oyome, Sodruldeen Mustapha and Victor Alade. Symbol credit score: Raenest