With eyes set on expanding its innovative loan solution, Piggybank.ng just hit a huge milestone. The Nigerian FinTech startup has announced that it raised about N397m ($1.1m) from a group of investors led by Olumide Soyombo, Founder of LeadPath Nigeria.
Other investors who took part in the round include Village Capital and Ventures Platform. LeadPath Nigeria committed $1m, while Village Capital and Ventures Platform each contributed $50,000.
Nigeria’s https://t.co/RtGh48iQbl raises $1.1M, announces group investment product https://t.co/a6SVfcEJLz by @JakeRBright pic.twitter.com/7tMxMpPD2z
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) May 31, 2018
The new funding will help Piggybank.ng scale its service offerings to acquire new licenses. The startup also announced a new product: Smart Target.
Piggybank.ng Growing Strong
Piggybank is an online savings platform with a mission to help low-income earners and young people save more.
Just opened my https://t.co/Xdvik3k0Hj account after like 2 months to find a sexy amount of money I safe locked that I had totally forgotten about.
What a mood! 🕺
— Q (@ClickClickQ) May 30, 2018
Founded in 2016 by Somto Ifezue, Odunayo Eweniyi, and Joshua Chibueze, the platform has savings plans for deposits of small amounts on a daily, weekly and annual basis. Users are required to open an account with a few selected banks to make the process work. After which, savings can be scheduled.
Piggybank offers savings, but our vision is not just savings, but to become a holistic platform – a financial warehouse—where other financial providers can plug in their services for piggybank users. –Odunayo Eweniyi.
https://t.co/OczvvXj8iQ generates returns for small-scale savers (primarily) through investment in Nigerian government securities, such as bonds and treasury bills and generates revenue through asset management and from the float its balances generate at partner banks.
— Cherish 🌍🌎🌏 (@Cherish_vic) May 31, 2018
Investing in a pool of portfolios, ranging from government bonds, and treasury bills, Piggybank.ng helps savers earn between 6 and 10%.
The platform does not charge any fee for its services upfront. It makes its revenue through asset management and from earnings it accrues from partnering banks.
Just two years old, the startup has been a gaining traction quickly. It currently has 53,000 registered users. And according to a medium post in 2017, Piggybank saved nearly one billion.
New Growth Tactics Announced
With the new funding, the startup is looking to also expand to other African countries. However, no further details were provided.
Startups are now acquiring Micro Finance Banks. 🙌🏾🙌🏾 Congratulations @PiggyBankNG https://t.co/1NAS1eLgeU
— Omekannaya (@ObiIk) May 31, 2018
Also, Soyombo will get a seat on the Piggybank board, and he’s keen to see the business develop new growth models. Like Paga and Kenya’s M-Pesa, Soyombo wants Piggybank to use the agent network model.
The agent network business is a huge play we plan to go into. They’ve basically become like human ATMs.
The startup is looking to acquire a micro-finance banking license. Of course, this would go a long way to give it credibility.
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