Palmpay, an African digital bank, is holding talks to raise between $ 50 million and $ 100 million in a round of chain B, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
It is unclear what the evaluation that you hope to obtain, but its last tour, in 2021, ranked it among the most valuable startups on the continent, which only estimates shy of a single -century mode.
While Palmpay refused to comment on the details of the collection, a six -year -old Fintech spokesman said “in a strong financial position and exploring growth opportunities.”
The company, which raised nearly 140 million dollars through seed and chain tours, is now profitable, according to the people familiar with its financial resources.
The new capital, which is expected to include shares and debts, will expand Palmpay: deepening its mark in Nigeria, expanding its latest -focusing business, and offering both producers in new markets throughout Africa and Asia.
Last month, Palmpay announced that it had reached 15 million daily transactions, driven by its 35 million registered users. These transactions now add up to “tens of billions of dollars” annually, according to the company.
Revenue also increased. People familiar with the company’s financial statements say that Palmpay’s revenues – $ 64 million in 2023, according to the Financial Times – has multiplied more than twice since.
It was launched in 2019, Palmpay started in Nigeria, the most country in Africa and a major center in Fintech. At that time, more than half of the adults in the country were unaccompanied, and traditional banks often meet customers in the official or official sectors, and often excluded collective market users.
Palmpay saw an opportunity to turn this model on his head: building a digital bank from the zero point, but improving the facts of the informal economy of Africa. The company launched an immediate application on the plane, a bitural transfer fees, and a growing range of services (including credit, savings, insurance, and billing payments) specially designed for the needs of consumers who suffer from bank deficiency and small companies.
Decisively, Palmpay not only relied on digital acquisition. Fintech has built a broad network on the ground of more than a million small companies and dealerships, who are now serving more than 10 million customers per month through the Palmpay Business application and point of sale (for cash services and cash services).
Other major Findtss in the country, including OPAY, MoniePoint and paidIt also adopted the mixed model, as the inclusion of digital applications and actual touch points.
Palmpay claims to process more transactions from any traditional bank in Nigeria, and 25 % of its users have been its first financial account ever. For credit products, which are presented in partnership with licensed lenders, this number jumps to 60 % between borrowers, as you claim.
Part of Palmpay’s powerful distribution and marketing feature stems from Transition, a Chinese phone maker that dominates smart phone sales in Africa, with a market share of more than 40 % through its brands (TECNO and Infinix).
Through the partnership, Palmpay installs its application on the chosen smartphones, which helps to increase the user acquisition and share it.
After creating itself as one of the most widely used Fintech applications in the country, Palmpay is now preparing to repeat its model in new markets abroad.
The new transport platform expanded to Tanzania and Bangladesh (its first invasion outside Africa), where Palmpay enters the financing of devices and consumer credit as the same before the classes in more services. (Other African digital banks, including Vermone, MNT-HALAN and Tymebank, expanded their financial services to Asia with varying degrees of success.)
The company spokeswoman also confirmed the provision of devices financing in Nigeria.
While the Transition, which led the Palmpay seed tour, is still a strategic partner, the company spokesman says Fintech explores the activity of cooperation with more original equipment manufacturers (OEMS).
The GIC (sovereign wealth box in Singapore) and Mediaatek, one of the largest mobile phone slices makers in the world, is some of its other investors.
On the side facing business, Palmpay offers cross -border payments to merchants who want to send and collect payments throughout Africa through a single application programming interface, which is a frequent pain point (even with Stablecoins). The company spokesman confirmed that this newly launched commercial feature, which is currently living in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania (with South Africa in the pipeline), is already addressing “hundreds of millions of dollars per month”.