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This latest funding round was led by Development Partners International (DPI), a UK-based private equity firm. Google’s Africa Investment Fund, Verod Capital, and Lightrock also invested in the FinTech. Before Moniepoint achieved unicorn status (billion-dollar valuation), the list of unicorns in Africa included Interswitch, Opay, Flutterwave (all Nigerian companies), as well as Andela, Wave, MNT Halan, and Chipper Cash. It adds to a shortlist that’s already dominated by FinTechs. Back in 2022, Moniepoint raised $50 million from investors. That put its valuation at about $400 million. Today’s announcement ensures that it is now worth nearly three times that amount. There are other tangible signs of the company’s growth. It says that it currently processes over 800 million transactions, with the value of monthly transactions on its platform surpassing $17 billion. It has also revealed that it is Nigeria’s largest in-person payments platform, catering to two-thirds of the country’s population.
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In 2023, Moniepoint was named the second fastest-growing company in Africa. Evidence of its rapid expansion is seen in the rate at which it has added agents and SMEs to its retail banking network. The company was founded in 2015 by Tosin Eniolorunda (its CEO) and Felix Ike. It started under the name ‘TeamApt’, with a mission to provide payment solutions to banks and other financial institutions. Then it received a switching license from the CBN in 2019, rebranded to Moniepoint in 2023, and launched a personal banking service in the same year. In a statement published on the Moniepoint blog, Tosin Eniolorunda said that the company’s capital raise will enable it to “accelerate [its] growth across Africa” and deliver “an all-in-one platform for African businesses of all sizes.” He stated that this platform would encompass digital payments, banking, cross-border payments, credit, and business management tools.
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Moniepoint’s successful funding round comes at a time in which investors have curtailed their financial support for Nigerian (and African) startups. Only one other Nigerian startup—Moove, a mobility tech company – has raised at least $100 million this year. African startups attracted funding worth $780 million in the first half of 2024, down from around $1.8 billion recorded for the same period in 2023.
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