Get Guardian on GoogleNigeria’s Piggybank.ng, an online and mobile app savings platform targeted at African Millennials, has announced that it has closed on seed funding of $1.1 million, from High Net Worth Individuals, led by Olumide Soyombo, Founder of LeadPath Nigeria, and with participation from International and Pan-African investors Village Capital and Ventures Platform.
The company will deploy the VC investment for license acquisition and product development. Piggybank.ng has recorded 20 – 35% m-o-m growth in user traction over the past 12 months; primarily from peer-to-peer recommendations, its referral program – Piggybank Stories, and grass-roots social media campaigns.
The startup will also invest in additional marketing spend, to accelerate its growth trajectory. Having completed accelerator programs with Blackbox, the CcHub’s Pitch Drive, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, and Google Launchpad Africa, Piggybank.ng has built a savings community of over 53,000 registered users of which approximately 60 per cent are Nigerian Millennials, who have saved in excess of $5 million, with a savings growth of 3000 per cent between 2016-17.
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Founded in 2016 by Somto Ifezue, Odunayo Eweniyi and Joshua Chibueze, graduates of Covenant University, Nigeria, Piggybank.ng is positioned to fill a void for tens of millions of Nigerians, who have no access to credit, in a country where up to two years’ rent is often required upfront to secure a home.
Targeting low-middle income savers in Nigeria, of which there are 26.5 million with a market size of $2.2 billion, the fintech start-up is an automated savings platform where savers manage their finances by depositing small amounts of money [starting from as little as USD$1/day] on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, depending on their saving target, free of charge.
Savers can expect to earn on average six per cent per annum on automated savings or 10.95 per cent per annum on the fixed deposit product, Safelock and can withdraw funds once per quarter. Piggybank.ng generates its revenues through asset management, which currently stands at 5 – 7 per cent.
