With USD 2.4 Mn Raised And Paystack Partnership, SF-based African Fintech Chipper Cash Is Expanding To Nigeria

Chipper Cash, a seed-stage fintech startup based in San Francisco, is expanding to Nigeria. The African no-fee, cross-border payments firm is taking its P2P service to the most populous black nation in collaboration with Paystack – a payment gateway company. 

USD 2.4 Mn For a USD 38 Bn Race

May this year, Chipper Cash landed a USD 2.4 Mn seed investment. The round was led by Deciens Capital with participation from 500 Startups and Liquid 2 Ventures. The fintech startup has offices in Ghana and Kenya, so it’s only natural that it is using part of the money raised to expand into new countries. 

With rather quiet operations in Tanzania and Rwanda, the startup said during its last raise that it would be expanding to more African countries in 12 months. It’s was very much expected that Nigeria would be the next nation to launch in, considering that the startup is looking to harness Sub-Saharan Africa’s global remittance market – USD 38 Bn. 

En Route To Nigeria’s Commercial Nerve

Chipper Cash has on-boarded significant leadership for its Nigerian launch. Co-founder of Lagos-based bike-hailing startup Gokada, Abiodun Animashaun, has been appointed as the fintech’s country manager as rallies up to debut in Lagos. Alica Levine is also ending her stint with Kenya’s internet hardware and service startup BRCK to resume as the COO of Chipper Cash in Lagos. 

On why the startup is expanding to Nigeria, the firm told Techcrunch that: “Nigeria is the largest economy and most populous country in Africa. Its fintech industry is one of the most advanced in Africa, up there with Kenya and South Africa. I think for any company doing fintech across borders, that is looking to be successful in Africa; you must have a presence in Nigeria. 

The company was co-founded by Ugandan Serunjogi and Ghanaian Maijid Moujaled, both of whom studied in the United States and now working in Silicon Valley. The service was launched in October 2018, since which it has gathered 70,000 active users and processed 250,000 active transitions. 

Image Courtesy: Techrunch