Moniepoint Looks To Acquire Payday After Leading Its Seed Round

Moniepoint, the fast-rising business banking startup in Nigeria that led a recently announced investment round in 20-month-old Rwanda-born neobank Payday, is set to acquire Payday outright in the coming months, people familiar with the matter said.

In a deal that was apparently negotiated in the midst of closing the oversubscribed USD 3 M seed announced Wednesday, which saw participation from new and existing local and global investors (individual and institutional), Moniepoint and Payday have agreed on broad terms to complete the transaction and make it official by the end of Q2 2023, a communication that went out to investors and advisors disclosed.

Payday has raised over USD 5 M since its founding, with Ingressive Capital Fund II, Techstars, HoaQ, etc. among backers who are in line for an exit; a development that boosts Africa’s tech landscape at a time when funding has slowed and talk of returns has surfaced. The acquisition of Payday by Moniepoint also seems a good sign for increased local capital participation in African tech as efforts have stepped up in recent years.

Favour Ori, Payday Founder/CEO, who TechCrunch quoted as saying Payday had earlier turned down a USD 15 M acquisition offer from an African unicorn, declined to comment. It’s unclear whether Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt), whose CEO Tosin Eniolorunda did not respond to requests for comment, had made the earlier offer. 

While finer details are still being ironed out, Moniepoint is snapping up Payday in a cash-plus-equity deal priced under USD 40 M, well-placed sources revealed to WT, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.