Nigerian Fintech Startup, Kudi Raises $5m Series A Funding to Expand Agent Network

Online payments startup, Kudi, has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round to aid the expansion of its agent network and products. This funding round was led by Partech Africa Fund, with participations from Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel, Khosla Ventures and other existing investors.

RT @PartechPartners: We are delighted to announce our investment in Nigerian #fintech leader @Kudidotai! Kudi is the Nigerian leader of digital payment and collection for the cash economy, https://t.co/5hKgJeQbaR #PartechAfrica #InvesInAfrica pic.twitter.com/mXmv6U8YFA

— David Doughty (@daviddoughty) April 4, 2019

This latest funding brings the fintech startup’s total investment to date to about $ 6.7 million, with previous investments being the seed rounds.

Founded in 2016 by Adeyinka Adewale (CEO) and Pelumi Aboluwarin (CTO), Kudi (meaning ‘money’ in Hausa language) enables the underbanked and unbanked Nigerians to access basic financial services through its agent network.

The startup was among the 2nd batch of Nigerian startups to be accepted into Y Combinator’s accelerator programme in 2017 and received $120,000 equity investment. The startup was also a selected finalist in the 2017 Ecobank Fintech Challenge and 2017 AppsAfrica Innovation Awards.

And in just 3 years of existence, Kudi has demonstrated impressive growth, having an agent network of over 4500 merchants and now processing over $30m in payments monthly. With this latest investment, Kudi will be adding to its team, recruiting 15 new team members. It will also grow its network of agents across Nigeria, and launch other financial services in partnership with banks and other fintechs.

Digitising cash transfers & payments contributes much towards boosting financial inclusion,increasing economic participation of the poor & alleviating poverty.@Kudidotai,another African company doing this raised $5m https://t.co/NSZbl5DIJZ #innovation #techforgranted @Vikki_Ireri

— techforgranted (@techfogranted) April 4, 2019

“We’re excited about the growth we’ve experienced over the last 12 months. We literally grew from processing US$1.1 million to US$30 million monthly with the same team. Going forward, we’ll be hiring engineers, product managers and product designers to ensure our product is 10X better than what’s on the market today even as we grow our network of agents.”

Adeyinka Adewale (CEO) Kudi.

The funding will see Partech general partner, Tidjane Dème join Kudi’s board of directors.

Recall that Partech Ventures recently announced its $143 million Partech Africa Fund, with plans to make several investments over the next several years. This investment in Kudi would definitely be one of the first investments the fund has made since its announcement.