In terms of funding, 2022 was generally a satisfying one for the Nigerian tech ecosystem as venture capitalists continue to pump money into startups in the country more than any of its counterparts on the continent even though it was not as much as the funds raised in 2021.
According to Renaissance Capital, Nigerian startups raised $678 million in 107 different deals between January and April 2022, accounting for 31% of the total funds raised. As of December 1, Nigerian startups raised over $1.2 billion according to a report released by fund trackers.
This piece, the first part of this series, looks at some of the top tech fundings that defined the Nigerian tech ecosystem in 2022.
Bamboo ($15 million)
In 2022, a fintech company, Bamboo, a brokerage app that helps Africans to buy and trade on US stocks in real-time raised a US$15 million Series A funding round to accelerate its growth, move into new markets and launch more products.
Bamboo is an investment platform that gives Africans the tools to build wealth from the ground up through real-time access to the global markets.
Richmond Bassey is the Co-founder and CEO of Bamboo, a respected digital investment platform that provides real-time access to buy, hold, or sell stocks. The investment platform is accessible even on mobile phones.
CredPal ($15 million)
CredPal, one of the earliest pioneers of buy now, pay later in Nigeria, also closed a bridge round of $15 million in equity and debt in March 2022 to expand its consumer credit offerings across Africa. This company is an innovative solution that allows businesses and individuals to buy anything and pay for it in installments across online and offline merchants by providing them with access to credit at the point of checkout. It provides a platform that offers transparency in services facilitating users to set up their accounts and choose their payment plan to minimize risk and connect to multiple financial institutions that provide credit for customers.
Credpal was launched in 2018 by Fehintolu Olaogun and Olorunfemi Jegede and is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.
Omnibiz ($15 million)
Omnibiz, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce platform closed a $15 million pre-Series A round comprising $5 million equity and $10 million debt in August 2022. The funding was led by Timon Capital with participation from other VC firms such as Ventures Platform, Lofty Inc, Chapel Hill Denham, Chandaria Capital, and Musha Ventures. The brand is a B2B e-commerce platform that aggregates end-to-end retail operations to help manufacturers, distributors, logistic partners, and retailers achieve their business goals through a seamless supply chain framework.
Omnibiz Africa has provided over 90,000 retailers the convenience to buy over 500+ products from our website/app. Omnibiz ensures retailers get better ROI and distributors/ manufacturers grow volume and reach more retailers through our wide distribution network.
The founder of Omnibiz, Deepankar Rustagi has demonstrated a history of working with small business solutions and has been doing business in Africa for 23 years.
UMBA ($15 MILLION)
Umba, a Nigeria digital banking startup raised $15million in 2022 in a Series A funding round. The company is a customer-centric, mobile-first digital bank that increases access to financial tools including current accounts, bill payments, loans, cashback, P2P payments, and bank transfers.
Umba is an African digital bank, offering free bank accounts and financial services to our customers. They provide an ecosystem of connected financial services that allows the customer complete control of their finances all in one App. Tiernan Kennedy is the CEO of Umba.
Vendease ($30 million)
Vendease, Nigeria’s food procurement startup raised $30 million in equity and debt funding rounds in 2022.
The round of $20 million was co-led by TLcom and Partech, in a rare joint investment by two of the biggest Africa-focused funds, while $10 million debt round was raised from the local finance market.
Vendease is an online marketplace for Africa’s food businesses. With Vendease, food service business owners and managers can digitize, track and automate their procurement processes.
The company also provides businesses with analytics to improve profitability and eliminate waste.
Tunde Kara is the Co-founder and CEO of this company that specializes in, connecting restaurants directly to supplies from farms.
TeamApt ($50 million) (MONIEPOINT)
TeamApt (now known as Moniepoint Inc.) is a Nigerian fintech that provides business payments and banking platforms. The company topped the fundraising table in Q3- of 2022 with its $50 million pre-series C funding announced in August.
The company operates one of Nigeria’s largest business payments and banking platforms and processes a $100 billion annual run-rate transaction value via its products: Moniepoint which serves 400,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Nigeria.
TeamApt, (now Moniepoint) , was founded in 2015 with the vision to create a society where everyone experiences financial happiness. It does this through Moniepoint – an all-in-one business platform that provides business banking solutions for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses. Tosin Eniolorunda is the founder and CEO of Moniepoint Inc.
ThriveAgric ($56.4 million)
ThriveAgric, a technology-driven agricultural company, also secured $56.4 million in debt funding from commercial banks and institutional investors in 2022.
The company also received a $1.75 million co-investment grant from West Africa Trade & Investment, which is funded by USAID.
ThriveAgric leverages technology to empower smallholder farmers across Africa by linking them to finance, data-driven best practices, and access to local and global markets for their commodities towards ensuring food security for all. Uka Eje is the CEO of ThriveAgric
Interswitch ($110 million)
Last May, Interswitch, by far one of Africa’s largest fintech companies secured a $110 million deal in a joint venture deal with LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital to increase its presence across Africa with its digital payment services.
The investment came almost three years since Interswitch’s last publicly disclosed funding round, when Visa paid $200 million for a 20% stake in the company.
Interswitch, one of Africa’s major electronic payments and infrastructure companies valued at $1 billion, is well-known for its point-of-sale terminals, online consumer payment platforms, Quickteller, and Verve, Africa’s largest domestic debit card scheme, which has issued over 35 million active cards since its launch. Mitchell Elegbe is the Founder, Group Managing Director & CEO of the company
Moove ($181.8 million)
Moove is an African-born, global mobility fintech that provides revenue-based vehicle financing and financial services to mobility entrepreneurs across ride-hailing, logistics, mass transit, and instant delivery platforms.
With a total round of $181.8 million, Moove secured one of the highest funding rounds for a Nigerian startup in 2022.
Earlier in 2022, Moove raised a $30 million investment fund through its first Sukuk issuance barely a week after the company was reported to have laid off some of its staff.
Having expanded into 13 markets last year, the startup said it will use the funds to scale to 2,000 EVs in the UAE over the coming year to enhance the ride-hailing passenger experience in the region. Ladi Delano is the Co-founder and CEO of Moove,
Flutterwave ($250 million)
Last year’s biggest round of tech funding in Nigeria and Africa was the Series D round of $250 million raised by Nigeria unicorn Flutterwave in February, which brought the company’s valuation to more than $3 billion — making it Africa’s most valuable startup.
Flutterwave is a global payments technology company building digital payments infrastructure with a focus on the African market. The company enables digital transactions across Africa, between Africa, and in other regions. The brand has grown to become one of the fastest-growing payment companies in the world. Since its inception, Flutterwave has processed close to $2 billion in payments and 25 million transactions across over 33 African countries where it currently operates.
Olugbenga Agboola is a renowned Nigerian software engineer and entrepreneur. is the CEO and co-founder of Flutterwave.