Kuda Isn’t The First ‘Africa-focused’ Fintech Backed By Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures

Fintech proves to be the supreme overlord of the African tech ecosystem; the sector has produced 3 unicorns in a space of just 3 years.

Last week, it was Flutterwave becoming an uncontended homegrown tech startup unicorn with a USD 170 Mn Series C. Today, it's Kuda—a Lagos and London co-headquartered challenger bank—raising a USD 25 Mn Series A.

The investment—coming just 4 months after a seed round of USD 10 Mn—makes Kuda Technologies USD 36.6 Mn strong. Also, noteworthily, the raise marks the first ever time New York-based Valar Ventures is investing in an African startup.

Nevertheless, Kuda isn't entering a portfolio full of strangers. Apart from the opportunities that abound, there's already some potentially yieldful romance in the background.

Who is Valar?

Anyone who knows how BitPanda, N26 and BlockFi are connected will have no qualms identifying Valar, the venture capital firm co-founded and financially backed by Peter Thiel. He is a German-American billionaire credited for the creation of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund.