Visa enters African fintech. Moniepoint As a new investor. The business banking and payments platform has received a “strategic investment” from the global payments giant, as both companies look to drive growth and support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa, the business banking and payments platform confirmed to TechCrunch.
Sources close to the deal said fintech. It announced that it will invest 110 million dollars. Last October, Visa raised more than $10 million. The fintech, which now has a Series C round of more than $120 million, is reportedly in talks with other investors and could attract more money in the coming months while maintaining its billion-dollar valuation, sources said. Moniepoint declined to comment on Visa's check size or interest from other investors.
Moniepoint provides bank accounts, bank accounts to businesses and individuals through the app and agent network. Credit Supports payments and other financial tools. The fintech now processes more than 1 billion monthly payments, increasing total transaction volume to $22 billion; Over 25% in less than three months. The Central Bank of Nigeria has picked up its momentum during its cashless drive as early as 2023, and it has steadily continued to be a key player in shaping the future of digital payments in the country.
Moniepoint has only a fraction of the total market. Electronic Transactions in Nigeria's Digital Payments Market; ATMs, POS machines; It spans multiple channels, including mobile agents and web payments. By 2023, businesses and consumers will complete approximately $400 billion worth of transactions. Country's inter-bank payment switch. Electronic transactions, driven by NIP, an instant payment network comparable to India's UPI and Brazil's Pix, dominate the market, accounting for nearly 90% of these transactions. According to data from Stears.. mobile agents; ATMs, and other channels such as point-of-sale systems lag behind.
While Moniepoint operates in most of these channels, Visa's investment highlights the position and potential of fintech as a key issuer and acquirer in Nigeria's card value chain.
“We are present in Nigeria today, leading the way in merchant acquisition and consumer banking,” CEO Tosin Eniolorunda told TechCrunch. “Visa, as our investor, will be able to strategically partner to continue to grow the payments ecosystem and expand into other countries, which is a key goal for us.”
Eniolorunda said one way both companies will look to grow the “payments ecosystem” is by introducing contactless payments. “The central bank has indicated the need to drive contactless services to improve accessibility and enable micro-transactions. So these are the things we expect from the partnership. We are on the right track.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria has shown its latest intention to push for contactless payments by 2023 with draft guidelines for transaction limits. However, Implementation requires clearer rules and privacy; It will depend on solving security and trust issues. Once addressed, contactless payments can significantly boost transaction volumes and overtake other payment methods in the country.
Globally, Visa noted. Contactless card usage is ahead of mobile wallets. In many markets. Moniepoint is in a sweet spot to lead this transition in Nigeria by providing contactless payment terminals to businesses and chip cards to individuals.
On the other hand, Moniepoint will leverage Visa's Cybersource system to provide greater visibility into payments. In addition, It plans to integrate with Visa Direct for remittances and remittances to expand into markets within and outside Africa.
Visa has a history of investing in Africa's payments infrastructure and backing players. intercept, Flutterwave, paymentversus the same Over the past decade. With Moniepoint, Visa is entering Nigeria's SME market with the hope of digitizing and partially increasing payments for them. Its share of the country's card scheme market. It currently lags behind Interswitch's Verve and Mastercard in cards. The latter two have already launched a pay-per-click opportunity.
“Visa's investment in Monipoint is the latest example of our long-term commitment to advancing digital economies in Africa,” said Andrew Torre, Regional President at Visa. “Even the smallest of businesses will enable SMEs to scale and thrive through innovative payment and software solutions that streamline their operations and open up new revenue opportunities.”
Visa will join Moniepoint's board following its investment. Other notable backers in fintech include Development Partners International; Google's Africa Investment Fund; These include QED Investors and British International Investment (BII). Last week, early backer Oui Capital; It recently returned its first funding. After investing in African Unicorn six years ago