NIGERIA – Nigeria based fintech startup, Wallets Africa has secured fresh capital from a number of investors including Mozilla Corporation, Samurai Incubate and Michael Seibel to fund its ambitious growth plan.
Although the amount of funds raised by Wallets Africa, during the investment round has not been disclosed to the public, Ventureburn reports that the fintech startup intended to use the capital to fund its plan to expand into 10 countries in the continent.
Last year, along with six African startups, Wallets Africa made it into Y Combinator (YC) where it secured US$150,000 in exchange for US$7.5% equity.
Through the funding and expertise gained at YC, the fintech startup was able to grow its revenues from US$2 million monthly to US$6.7 million and its customer base from a mere 14,000 to the current over 43,000 users.
Founded in 2018, Wallets Africa makes it easy for users to transact across Africa with an app and a card.
According to Wallets Africa’s founder and CEO, John Oke, the idea for Wallets Africa first crossed the founder’s mind in 2016 when he was a software engineer at SureGifts, a gift voucher company.
Oke explained that he had frequently encountered problems reversing online transactions that failed and he was always forced to go to the bank to effect the reversal.
He thus figured that he could build a platform that could link his cards, enable him carry out digital transactions easily, and give him an opportunity to effect reversals easily without having to involve his bank.
This idea according to Oke, led to the birth of Wallets Africa and over the next 18 months, Oke started working and consulting for banks and fintech companies like Interswitch, gaining some experience in how things work in the financial space.
In January 2018, the fintech startup released its beta and users could pay bills, buy airtime, and make money transfers.
Wallets Africa also began issuing prepaid virtual dollar cards to people who wanted to make payments on platforms like Amazon or Netflix.
“We promised that when a customer’s transaction fails, we will reverse instantly. What you see is what you spent; no hidden fees. And wherever you contact us online, we will respond there, no redirects,” said Wallets Africa CEO.
With the funding, the fintech startup hopes to ramp up its efforts to acquire customers.
Last year, Wallets Africa launched its Internet banking solution for businesses and the funding will allow it to gain market share in the space.
Wallets Africa will also be helping these businesses and developers issue wallets the way most of them issue cards these days.
In December 2019, the fintech startup rolled out international transfers to mobile money wallets and agents in Ghana.
Since then, Wallets Africa has rolled out its services to Kenya and now operates in three African countries (Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria).
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