This fintech has a fix for the biggest cross-border payments issues in Francophone Africa

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Even a few years ago, it was difficult to make almost anywhere in the world. But it is still a big problem in Africa, as it makes separate segmented systems, high fees and bad infrastructures that are difficult for companies and individuals to transfer money quickly at reasonable prices.

The majority of people and companies still depend on the networks of old agents or wrestle with the integration of the portfolio portfolio. But there is a concrete demand for cheaper and easier alternatives, especially in disadvantaged areas such as Frankovon Africa.

Ivorian Fintech Coridor It starts to resolve this, and has recently raised $ 3.5 million in seed financing to continue building their payment bars that allow traders, banks, telecommunications operators and fund transfer companies inside and outside Africa.

Cauridor says its platform supports portfolio portfolios, bank transfers, and cash reception through a network of more than 25,000 agents throughout Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coasts, Sierra Leone and Liberia. These agents are part of a popular distribution method in the region-they are usually small business owners equipped with POS devices (POS) and empowering cash deposits, clouds and bills payments.

CAURIDOR adopts a hybrid approach to solving the problem of money transfer – in the same way that other Findtss in the area of ​​cash and digital infrastructures collects to meet local payment needs. However, the approach enabled him to run the transfers to the main markets such as Ghana and Nigeria, and to create the group levels with major players such as Ria, Moneygram and Western Union, as well as partnerships with Orange and MTN.

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From transfers to B2B payments

Corridor founders OMAR RAFIOUOU Barry and Abdul Abed Bah She directly faced the challenges of sending money to the homeland to Guinea when studying in Canada. They faced slow and costly conversion options in Frankovon Africa, a long -standing region of global transfers.

In 2019, this frustration prompted them to start the BNB Cashapp, a conversion platform that focuses on consumer for users in Canada to send money to Africa. The application has been combined directly with banks, portfolio portfolios such as MTN, and an equipped agent equipped with a mobile portal to facilitate cash payments.

But with the growth of the platform, the founders faced a greater challenge: the infrastructure of fragmented and ineffective payment in Africa. We realized early that the bars in Francophone Africa were almost not exist. So we had to enter and start building the payment bars in the area since payments were divided.

Feeling an opportunity, in 2022, the pivotal team built the payment bars of the area. By 2023, the company merged its business in the field of consumer transfers and the B2B payment infrastructure under CAURIDOR, such as the operating model of Tanzania Nala and Rafiki.

The transformation he paid: more than 90 % of the company’s revenue now comes from their payment business. In 2023, Cauridor processed 2 million transactions and recorded the total payment volume (TPV) of $ 300 million, which grew to $ 500 million in 2024, the company said.

Competition and future plans

While Barry refers to more prominent players such as Onafriq and Thunes as a major competition for Cauridor, his company remained relevant because it built the payment bars in the market, “No one was looking at it,” such as Guinea and Liberia.

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He pointed out that customer service and practical pricing also helped her to keep customers. FINTECH provides customer service to solve common problems such as rejected mobile money transactions due to incomplete KYC. For example, if the recipient can obtain only $ 10 of $ 700 payment, Cauridor interferes to help upgrade his account and ensure the passage of the transaction.

Barry believes that the strong local presence of the corridor gives it an advantage in securing better margins of the Forex, which it moves to its customers. He said this feature helped the company attract major customers such as Moneygram, which turned from competitors to get better prices and improve customer support.

Interestingly, the competition in the area of ​​payments across the border does not rule out cooperation. Some CAURIDOR competitors depend on its infrastructure in specific areas, just as it participates in companies such as Thunes for global access.

Cauridor employs about 200 people worldwide and has offices on Ivory Coast, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The seed tour led the Pan-AFRICAN VC oui Capital, and witnessed the participation of Rally Cap, BKR Capital and some owners investors.

With new funds, the company plans to expand new markets (it has new offices in Mali and Nigeria the opening of this year), gets rid of its teams, and enhances marketing efforts. Barry told Techcrunch that Cauridor is also preparing for a tour of the series A and exploring the Blockchain integration to simplify settlements and benefit from the increasing adoption of Stablecoins in the cross -border payment space in Africa.

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