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Nigerian Payments Fintech Startup Cleva Secures $1.5 Million in Pre-Seed Funding
The Y Combinator-backed Nigerian fintech startup has reportedly raised .5 million in pre-seed funding. Tolu Alabi, the CEO of Cleva, expressed confidence in her and fellow co-founder Philip Abel’s ability to navigate the competitive fintech market, citing their background as a factor that counts in the startup’s favor.
Cleva Founders ‘Uniquely Qualified’
Nigerian fintech startup Cleva has raised .5 million in a pre-seed funding round backed by the U.S. technology startup accelerator Y Combinator. The early-stage venture capital firm, 1984 Ventures, led the round with the participation of The Raba Partnership, Byld Ventures, Firstcheck Africa, and several angel investors.
According to a Techcrunch report, the funding is expected to help the fintech startup build a banking platform that enables both individuals and businesses to receive international payments. Aaron Michel, a partner at 1984 Ventures, expressed confidence in Tolu Alabi and Philip Abel’s stewardship of the startup.
“The team is uniquely qualified to address this given their experience building banking products at Stripe and robust platforms at AWS. The impressive early growth is a testament to the team’s unique capacity to execute across Africa and the U.S.,” Michel said.
The Nigerian Market
Meanwhile, Alabi, who is also the startup’s CEO, is quoted in the report talking up Cleva’s prospects in a market that is already dominated by fintech giants like Flutterwave, Chipper Cash, and others. She also highlighted her and her fellow co-founder’s backgrounds as another factor that counts in the startup’s favor as it targets a share of the billion market.
“We’re starting with Nigeria because we know the market and it’s also a big market. But we feel like because of our backgrounds, we’re very well positioned to solve this problem at a global scale,” said the CEO.
To support this assertion, Alabi revealed that in the four months following its launch, the fintech startup has helped thousands of Nigerians open U.S.-based accounts. She added that Cleva now processes over million in monthly payments and has experienced a 100% month-on-month revenue growth.
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Cameroonian Fintech Startup Koree Secures $200,000 in Pre-Seed Funding
The Cameroonian fintech startup Koree recently secured 0,000 in pre-seed funding which was led by the co-founder of the Nigerian payments company Duplo. The fintech said it will use the funds raised to launch a marketplace that rewards users for the purchases they make.
Users Rewards
The Cameroonian fintech startup Koree recently announced that it had raised 0,000 in pre-seed funding to expand its merchant network and bolster its customer base. Tunde Akinnuwa, the co-founder of the Nigerian payments company Duplo, led the funding round. Other participants in the round included the Cameroon Angels Network, Catalytic Africa, and Digital Africa.
According to a report, Koree plans to use the funds raised to start a new marketplace that enables users to get rewards for their purchases. Magalie Gauze-Sanga, the founder of the fintech startup, said that users will be able to earn a certain percentage of the amount they have spent across the Koree app’s 14 categories.
“They shop as usual and earn a certain percentage of the amount they have spent. The money Koree users earn in their wallet is hard cash, which they can redeem directly into their mobile money account,” the founder reportedly said.
Since its launch in 2022, the Cameroonian fintech startup has reportedly amassed over 13,000 users and processed more than 50,000 transactions. Besides securing capital via the pre-seed round, the fintech startup won the Orange Fab Cameroon 2023 Challenge, which aims to serve as a bridge between startups and Orange’s resource network.
Koree also won the Ecobank Fintech Challenge and has used the prize money to hire key personnel in development and engineering. Meanwhile, Gauze-Sanga revealed that the fintech startup, which already has team members in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Nigeria, and Senegal, is hoping to open a physical office in Douala.
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Kenyan Fintech Startup Kotani Pay Receives $2 Million Pre-Seed Funding
The Kenyan fintech startup Kotani Pay has raised million in a pre-seed funding round which was led by P1 Ventures. The capital raised will be used to fund the startup’s expansion into five African countries. Felix Macharia said his firm is working with central banks, some of whom “are actually getting excited about some of these use cases and are getting involved.”
New Capital to Fund Kotani Pay’s Africa Incursion
The Kenya-based digital currency on- and off-ramp service provider, Kotani Pay, recently raised a million pre-seed funding round, a report has said. The round was led by the San Francisco-based seed investor P1 Ventures with the participation of Digital Currency Group/Luno and Flori Ventures.
According to a Techcrunch report, Kotani Pay will use the capital raised to fund its expansion into five African countries: Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania. The successful capital raise also enables Kotani Pay to make good on its promise to make cross-border remittances much easier for the African continent’s unbanked population.
In addition to seeking to make the transfer of remittances across borders easier, the Kenyan startup is involved in efforts aimed at bringing financial services to Africa’s refugee population. Kotani Pay has also developed software which enables feature phone users to send funds via its platform.
Working With Regulated Entities
While the fintech startup’s use of blockchain and stablecoins when moving funds across borders is likely to attract the attention of regulators, Kotani Pay co-founder Felix Macharia said working with regulated entities has helped to clarify certain things about their operations.
“We either work directly with the local mobile money operators or ride on the charter of regulated partners to ensure that our operations are compliant. Central banks are actually getting excited about some of these use cases and are getting involved as they develop central bank digital currencies,” said Macharia.
The co-founder added that with time more African countries will join the likes of Botswana, Mauritius, and South Africa, which all have put in place regulations to govern digital assets firms.
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