Over the last few years, several solutions for the transfer of cash on the African continent have been springing up. Similarly, several solutions have democratised trading of cryptocurrencies as well as the transfer of these digital assets. But, what if one app could ‘bundle’ these two spaces and help you do both easily.
Well, Bundle is indeed the name of that app.
Bundle is an Africa-focused social payments app for cash and cryptocurrencies. The app was developed by Yele Bademosi, former Director of Binance Labs and boss of VC firm, Microtraction. The app will be officially launched today.
Bundle enables users to request, send and receive cash or crypto from their peers. With the app, users can also buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies such as BNB, BTC, and ETH. Users can also deposit and withdraw digital currencies and local fiat currencies.
According to Yele Badmosi, the solution was developed with the young, digital-savvy African user as its target.
We built Bundle with the digitally native African user in mind. They are social, online and connected across geographical boundaries. They prefer their financial services delivered digitally via mobile apps as opposed to visiting brick and mortar bank branches,” Yele says.
Yele Bademosi
This audience is also very huge. About 40% of banked Africans prefer to use digital channels for banking transactions and accessing advanced financial tools. And this number is bound to increase with a teeming youthful population which is the largest in the world with a median age of 19.
Also, crypto use on the continent is on the rise, with 1.4 million people out of 1.2 billion people in Africa using it. This new solution wants to drive crypto adoption by making it easier to trade and transact with.
While quite a number of solutions already exist in this space, Bundle happens to edge the others with its move to put both cash and crypto transactions together.
According to Yele Bademosi, this is because the app makes transacting with crypto feel like just another digital financial transaction carried out on a mobile app. This also keys into Bundle’s vision to become a super-app which becomes a tech essential to users across the continent.
Beyond combining both solutions, Bundle also makes it quite easy to transact. Whether it is a cryptocurrency like bitcoin or cash, Bundle lets users send and receive value to contacts on their phone. It is just like sending messages to a contact on WhatsApp.
If the contact is not signed up on Bundle when the value is sent, they will only need to download the app and sign up with their phone number to access the value sent to their Bundle SmartWallet.
Currently, only Naira is supported as a fiat currency which can be processed via various payment channels such as cards, bank transfers and mobile money. The team plans to add more fiat currencies soon, including Ghanaian Cedis.
Like every other app out there, onboarding is down to the user’s phone number upon which an OTP is sent. Users will also need to complete some KYC verifications to increase their limits. The app is also launching with an initial zero fee on transactions.
Already, industry leaders are banking on the app to become the next big thing. In September 2019, the app closed a pre-seed fundraising of $450k from the global blockchain company, Binance with participation from PAVE investments. The business also becomes one of the first to have been incubated within the Binance ecosystem and invested into directly by the company.
Binance has always invested in startups via Binance Labs or provided grants via Binance X.
The Android application is available on the Google Playstore, with an app for Apple users coming soon. Bundle also plans to support over 30 African countries by the end of the year, creating a simplified platform for fiat and crypto transactions on the continent.
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