The Nigerian payment service platform Nomba recently raised a massive $30 million in a pre-Series B investment round, allowing it to expand its mission of making banking services available and inexpensive to everyone in the country.
The company plans to use this new money to strengthen its efforts to help African businesses find payment options that work for them. Base 10 Partners, an investment company based in San Francisco that has invested in Nubank, Plaid, and Brex, led the funding round. After the round, the company is now worth more than $150 million.
Partech and Khosla Ventures, which were already investors, as well as new investors like Helios Digital Ventures and Shopify, also took part in the round. The company is getting this round. In 2019, a Series A funding round brought in $5 million.
Luci Fonseca, a partner at Base10, said about the investments that Nomba is one of the most interesting startups in Africa because of its track record of innovation and good use of capital. We’re excited to help them bring their game-changing solutions to businesses in Nigeria and around the world to help them grow and keep doing well.
This new support will also pay attention to the needs of different businesses, like food companies, restaurants, logistics companies, and transportation companies. By fixing the holes in their payment processes, these businesses can run more smoothly and make more money.
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Nomba’s journey
Kudi.ai, a chatbot interface for social media financial inquiries, became Nomba. Last May, it changed its name and became an online multichannel payment service provider. It offered companies a new online payment method.
Their goal was to help more than 350,000 businesses in Nigeria run better by giving them tools. They currently help more than 300,000 businesses, but it’s clear that they’ve made a big difference. Nomba offers a wide range of payment solutions, management tools, and banking tools that help businesses run better and help their owners do their jobs better.
Nomba conducts $1 billion in transactions per month, according to a report. This is the biggest gross transaction value (GTV) ever for a payment service provider in Africa.
Yinka Adewale, Nomba’s CEO and co-founder, said, “We see payment as a business model, not just a product, and we want to make it easier for businesses to take advantage of all that is possible in their payment processes to support their continued growth and success.” We have a broad list of products, and the cash we have raised and the investors who have supported us give us a lot of confidence in what can be achieved with more effective payment solutions in business owners’ hands.
Nomba also improves the lives of individuals and small business owners. Nomba has given thousands of people and small business owners (agents) POS terminals to provide cash withdrawal, transfer, and bill payment services to unbanked and underbanked Nigerians through their agency banking model.
Nigeria’s fintechs are fixing digital payments
Africa’s digital payment gap remains large despite the pandemic’s rapid rise. Fintech companies all over Africa are trying to help people who don’t have bank accounts and improve financial services.
Nigerians with and without bank accounts can get affordable banking services from companies like Nomba. By making it easier for small businesses to get banking services and take part in the digital economy, we are helping more people get access to money and growing the economy.
The new capital will allow the company to offer more solutions to Nigerian and other African businesses as opportunities arise.