$40m seed funding boosts fintech operations in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Financial Technology (Fintech) community has received a boost of $40m seed fund.

PalmPay, the latest fintech startup to receive seed funding has already said it is working on partnerships in the areas of payment systems integrations, e-commerce, lending and communications.

Africa’s Fintech space has witnessed an influx of startups looking to offer scalable solutions for the continent’s financial needs.

According to statistics provided by WeeTracker, Fintech now receives the bulk of Venture Capital and deal-flow to African startups.

Visa is paying $200m for 20 per cent stake in Interswitch, Nigeria’s largest electronic payments company. Hence, Interswitch would not be the first Africa-focused tech company to achieve the billion-dollar so-called unicorn status.

Jumia, an e-commerce company, led by a mix of international executives and investors listed for over $1.4b in April, while PalmPay is the latest Fintech gunning for a slice of Nigeria’s financial services pie. country.
   
PalmPay is a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) licensed mobile money operator, whose operation is to ease customers’ transaction with their mobile wallet via an app. The seed fund is expected to help the country further deepen financial inclusion and move the sector forward.
  
Aiming for expansion, the firm said over a million transactions have been made on its platform within the first two months of pilot operations. The firm said Nigerians without bank accounts can have access to financial services as only the smartphone is needed.