NIGERIA – Bamboo, a Nigerian brokerage app that lets Africans buy and trade US stocks in real-time, has raised a US$15 million Series A funding round to accelerate its growth, move into new markets and launch more products.

The funding round was led by Greycroft and Tiger Global with participation from Motley Fool Ventures, Saison Capital, Chrysalis Capital, and Y-Combinator Michael Seibel and others.

The investment platform enables people in Africa to buy and trade U.S. stocks in real-time using local currency.

Part of the funding will be used to scale the company’s tech infrastructure for smoother processes and faster withdrawals.

The company also intends to introduce new offerings to add to its B2B product, allowing asset managers, fintech companies, and financial institutions to integrate its API into their offerings for their customers and trademark stock-trading product.

It has more than 300,000 accounts in Nigeria, 20% of which are active daily traders while 75% never traded stocks before using the platform.

It earlier announced a plan to launch in Ghana in April 2021, a move that has seen more than 50,000 Ghanaians on the waitlist.

There is also increased demand for the fintech app from other African countries such as Kenya and South Africa.

Our goal is to give Africans and their asset managers easy, fast and secure access to global investment options that will allow them to earn real returns,” said Richmond Bassey, Bamboo’s CEO, and co-founder.

The startup also intends to make it seamless for African investors in the diaspora to discover the best investment opportunities on the continent.

Launched in January 2020 by Bassey and Yanmo Omorogbe, director of growth, Bamboo aims to open global markets for Africans.

Users are charged a commission of 1.5% per transaction and about N45 / US$45 on withdrawals for users with naira or dollar bank accounts, respectively.

Its main aim is to enable Africans to build wealth by creating an investing platform that is helpful to both experienced investors and to those new to the stock market.

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