Nigerian Fintech startup, TeamApt, which provides financial services for the underserved mass market in Africa has announced the completion of its series B funding round.
Led by Novastar Ventures with participation from FMO, Global Ventures, CDC, Oui Capital, Kepple Africa Ventures, Soma Capital, and a syndicate of local angel investors including Gbenga Oyebode, the funding will see the company extend their offerings directly to customers and micro-SMEs, giving them access to the financial access lifelines they need to succeed, while expanding its solutions beyond Nigeria.
Over 50% of Nigeria’s 99 million adult population are financially underserved, comprising 36M unbanked and 14.5M underbanked people with distrust and access cited as key drivers of this exclusion. Operating in Nigeria’s 36 states, TeamApt is tackling this exclusion profitably with its hybrid solution – bridging the gap through a current distribution network of over 100,000 agents and reliable technology-enabled payment solutions.
TeamApt has in less than two years rapidly scaled its agent banking product, Moniepoint, overtaking long time incumbents and in the process serving 29 million previously-underserved individuals who had limited access to financial services. Through Moniepoint – and payment gateway Monnify – TeamApt has processed $17.5 billion worth of transactions in the past 12 months, a 1,081% increase from the previous year; with an average of 68 million transactions performed on its platform every month. With this raise, it will further leverage this agent network to provide wider financial services to the underserved consumers and businesses in Nigeria. The company also has its sights on other markets in Africa where there are significant opportunities for leveraging technology and offline distribution to provide financial services to the mass market.
“Universal access to financial services is key to the advancement of any society. We built Moniepoint because we believe everyone deserves to enjoy financial happiness and this can only happen when they can access financial services effortlessly.” said Tosin Eniolorunda, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TeamApt. According to him, “This fundraise is happening at a significant time in our growth as a company. In the past years, we have exceeded several strategic milestones without external funding, helping accelerate the Central Bank of Nigeria’s target of 95% financial inclusion by 2024, but as the hurdles of financial access are not unique to Nigeria, this funding allows us to extend our solutions to other parts of Africa”.
Speaking on the news, Brian Waswani Odhiambo, Head of West Africa at Novastar Ventures, said, “TeamApt has swiftly and successfully established its agency network to become the leading operator in Nigeria, a testament to the team’s capabilities and the platform’s superior user experience. We are glad to catalyze their vision by providing TeamApt with sufficient capital to pursue its new phase of growth.”
“TeamApt’s promise to deliver ‘financial happiness’ for the underserved mass market in Africa makes the company an excellent fit with FMO’s Ventures Program. We are excited to contribute to closing the financial inclusion gap in Nigeria – and invest in the company alongside FMO investee fund manager Novastar Ventures and other like-minded investors”, said Jaap Reinking, Director Private Equity at FMO.
“It is with great enthusiasm that we are partnering with TeamApt on their mission to bank the unbanked and underbanked across Africa. Tosin and the team’s mission-driven and product focused approach has translated into the development of an optimized POS and one of the largest agent networks in Nigeria in a relatively short span of time. We are excited to back TeamApt, alongside this consortium of investors, to support the company on its ambitious expansion plans focused on driving value across the financial services chain.” adds Noor Sweid, Founder and General Partner of Global Ventures.
TeamApt continues to extend its impact in the lives of many Nigerians. The company has consistently improved the livelihood for its over 100,000 agents by increasing their income earning opportunity, where a majority previously had none due to the country’s high unemployment rate.
