Chaka raises $1.5m pre-seed funding to expand its investment platform across West Africa

Chaka, a global trading and investment platform, has raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding round to power digital investments for African businesses.

The round was led by global VC, Breyer Capital with participation from 4DX Ventures, Golden Palm Investments, Seedstars, Musha Ventures and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji’s Future Africa.

This pre-seed round comes on the heels of Chaka becoming the first fintech start-up to obtain the new digital sub-broker license from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Speaking on the funding, Jim Breyer, CEO of Breyer Capital express confidence in the company’s digital value. He added that the company is levelling the investment field for Nigerians.

“We’re confident in the value Chaka provides through its digital tools, and we look forward to playing our part in supporting Chaka’s team on their mission to drive borderless investments in Africa.” 

Jim Breyer, CEO of Breyer Capital

Access to over 11,000 local and foreign assets

Launched by Chaka Technologies Limited in 2019, the platform provides customers with access to the local and foreign capital markets.

Its products include a stock trading app for retail investors, Chaka SDK, which enables asset managers and financial institutions to offer digital investments to their customers; and Chaka for Business enables direct business onboarding and provides powerful trading tools for institutional investors.

Since its launch, the startup has increased its offerings from over 4,000 local and foreign assets to over 11,000 stocks trading on capital markets.

In December 2020, SEC clamped down on the stock trading platform and prevented it from further operations. This subsequently compelled the startup to pioneer the process of registering for the newly created SEC license.

The latest funding round shows that the new license has boosted investors confidence.

According to the company, the new influx of funding will serve as a catalyst to enable Chaka to continue to power on its mission to enable borderless investments across Africa.

It added that it will also be used to fuel its expansion across West Africa to reach more retail investors and attract more foreign players to African Capital Markets.

Tosin Osibodu, Co-founder & CEO of Chaka Technologies on his part says he sees digital investments as an opportunity to boost economic transformation in Africa.

“This is indeed a significant milestone for us at Chaka. We see digital investments as an opportunity to boost economic transformation in Africa, and our goal is to use this funding to bring this vision to life. With this capital, we will focus on our goals to build a roster of formidable partners and accelerate our expansion to other markets within Africa. This investment also enables us to hire top talent and integrate more advanced functionalities into our investment and wealth management solutions for businesses.”

Tosin Osibodu, Co-founder & CEO, Chaka Technologies

He also added that they will be employing top talents and integrate more advanced functionalities into the startup’s investment and wealth management solutions.