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.
While the value of the funding round was not disclosed, TeamApt, through the capital raised, has joined its industry peers who have tapped from the recognition enjoyed by Nigeria’s Fintech industry in 2021. Some of the industry players on the list of fundraisers that have attracted investment this year includes Flutterwave ($170m); Kuda Bank ($25m); Havenhill ($4.5m); Kwik ($1.7m); Termii ($1.4m); Afriex ($1.2m); Bankly ($2m) and among others.
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 by TeamApt will see the company extend its 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.
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“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,” Noor Sweid, Founder and General Partner of Global Ventures, said.
Over 50percent of Nigeria’s 100 million adult population are financially underserved, comprising 36 million unbanked and 14.5million 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, the start-up said.
Through Moniepoint – and payment gateway Monnify, TeamApt said it has processed $17.5 billion worth of transactions in the past 12 months, a 1,081 percent increase from the previous year; with an average of 68 million transactions performed on its platform every month.
With this raise, it plans to further leverage its 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 it sees 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,” Tosin Eniolorunda, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TeamApt, said.
According to him, the fundraise happened at a significant time for the growth of TeamApt 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 percent 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”.
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, Jaap Reinking, Director Private Equity at FMO said.
According to him, “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.”
Launched in 2015, the company’s range of solutions revolve around making it easier for customers and businesses to pay, collect, manage, and grow their money. More than 15 million customers and more than 100,000 businesses depend on TeamApt’s products and services to create unforgettable customer experiences and deliver economic growth for developing markets.
“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 time,” Sweid said.
Aside from helping to deepen access to financial services in Nigeria, industry analysts say the TeamApt is extending 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, they said.
The investors
Novastar Ventures, a venture capital fund manager dedicated to finding and supporting the next generation of exceptional entrepreneurs designing and executing innovative business models to profitably serve Africa’s mass markets was one of the investors that injected funds in TeamApt’s Series B funding.
Best described as an impact investor, Novastar said it invests in start-ups like TeamApt so the entrepreneurs and their ventures can generate large-scale benefits to low-income households and attractive returns to investors.
FMO is another investor that considered the start-up attractive. The Dutch entrepreneurial development bank with a mission to empower entrepreneurs to build a better world invests in businesses, projects and financial institutions, by providing capital, knowledge and networks to support sustainable growth. The FMO Ventures Program is a EUR 200mln investment program funded by FMO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Commission targeting early-stage technology-enabled innovative business models in emerging markets. We do this with the ultimate goal of empowering people to apply their skills and improve their quality of life.
Global Ventures, a UAE-based venture capital firm, investing in founders and ideas scaling across emerging markets was also an investor in the Series B funding by TeamApt. Global Ventures backs global-minded founders that are leading growth-stage companies and using technology to transform emerging markets.
Portfolio companies include Arrow Labs, Buseet, Elmenus, Floranow, Helium Health, Holiday Me, Kitopi, Lean, Mamo Pay, Mumzworld, Much:on, Ogram, Paymob, Pyypl, Spider Silk, Tabby, Tarabut Gateway, Tribal and Zension.
CDC, the world’s first impact investor with over 70 years of experience of successfully supporting the sustainable, long-term growth of businesses in Africa and South Asia was also part of the investors in the round. CDC helps to solve some of the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation.
