Cowrywise Raises $3m Series A Funding to Expand its Wealth Management Offerings

Nigerian fintech startup, Cowrywise has closed a $3 million Series A funding round to expand its wealth management product offerings and grow its customer base.

Led by Quona Capital, the Series A round saw participation from other investors including Tsadik Foundation, Gumroad CEO Sahil Lavingia and Nigerian angel investors locally and in the diaspora.

The latest round brings the Cowrywise’s total funding to over $3.5 million, following a previous seed capital, grant and angel financing of over $500,000 raised across 5 rounds between 2018 and 2020.

According to the company, the $3m funding is requisite to reaching more customers, supporting more fund managers as well as growing its wealth management structure in Nigeria.

Founded in 2017 by Razaq Ahmed and Edward Popoola, Cowrywise provides a mutual funds investment and savings platform for individuals and businesses across Nigeria.

Having started out as a Piggy Vest-like savings platform, Cowrywise has shifted its focus to tackling the problem of inaccessibility of credible investment opportunities to millions of Nigeria due to the concentration on top-end earners.

Despite having about 40 million active bank accounts in Nigeria, only about 500,000 Nigerians are actively investing in mutual funds.

By providing mutual funds which allow users to invest in stocks, bonds and other capital market offerings, Cowrywise enables easy access to credit and digitizes the wealth management process for customers. 

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With affordable interest rates, the startup has made investment options more appealing to the average Nigerian who is looking for the best interest rates on any investments they make. Traditional banks usually charge high rates, hence leaving out a large proportion of underserved Nigerians.

Wealth management had been strange to many Nigerians because the existing players were not built for the mass market. That has always been a problem we felt required a solution.

Razaq Ahmed, CEO Cowrywise

The startup has been able to weather the storm that came after a Twitter user complained of stolen funds last year September. Cowrywise says it has up to 220,000 registered users and is targeting 10 million registered users by 2025. Perhaps Cowrywise could be looking to expand to other African countries in the nearest future.

While agritechs and solar energy companies have attracted the most funding at the beginning of 2021, fintechs such as Cowrywise are poised to pick up the pace going forward.