African fintech Moniepoint gets Visa backing, plans to work on contactless payments

Visa has joined African fintech Moniepoint as a brand new investor. The enterprise banking and funds platform confirmed to TechCrunch that it obtained a “strategic funding” from the worldwide funds big as each corporations look to drive monetary inclusion and help the expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout Africa.

Sources near the deal say the fintech – which announced a $110 million investment final October, obtained over $10 million from Visa. The fintech, whose Sequence C now exceeds $120 million, is reportedly in talks with different buyers and should appeal to extra funding within the coming months, all whereas sustaining its billion-dollar valuation, sources say. Moniepoint declined to touch upon the dimensions of Visa’s test or curiosity from different buyers.

Moniepoint supplies companies and people with banking accounts, credit score, funds, and different monetary instruments by means of an app and a community of brokers. The fintech now processes over 1 billion transactions month-to-month, with whole fee volumes reaching $22 billion—a progress of over 25% in under three months. Its fast rise started throughout Nigeria’s Central Financial institution cashless drive in early 2023 and has continued steadily, positioning it as an essential participant shaping the way forward for digital funds within the nation.

Moniepoint has only a fraction of the full market. Nigeria’s digital fee market spans a number of channels, together with digital transfers, ATMs, POS units, cellular brokers, and internet funds. In 2023, companies and customers accomplished transactions value roughly $400 billion, in response to the country’s interbank payments switch. Digital transfers, powered by the moment funds community NIP—similar to India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix—dominate the market, accounting for practically 90% of those transactions, according to data from Stears. Different channels, comparable to cellular brokers, ATMs, and point-of-sale techniques, path far behind.

Whereas Moniepoint operates throughout most of those channels, Visa’s funding highlights the fintech’s place and potential in Nigeria’s card worth chain as each a serious issuer and acquirer.

“We’re current in Nigeria as we speak, main the chart in service provider buying and shopper banking,” CEO Tosin Eniolorunda advised TechCrunch. “With Visa as our investor, we are able to strategically collaborate to proceed to develop the fee ecosystem and develop to extra nations, which is a key aim for us.”

A technique each corporations will look to “develop the fee ecosystem” is by introducing contactless funds, Eniolorunda stated. “The central financial institution has indicated the necessity to drive contactless companies to enhance accessibility and conduct micro-transactions. So these are some issues that we count on from the partnership. It’s progress in the best course.”

Nigeria’s Central Financial institution confirmed its newest intent to drive contactless fee adoption with draft pointers for transaction limits in 2023. Nonetheless, implementation will depend upon clearer laws and resolving points associated to privateness, safety, and belief. As soon as addressed, contactless funds may considerably increase transaction volumes and arguably outpace different fee strategies within the nation.

Globally, Visa notes that contactless card usage surpasses mobile wallets in lots of markets. Moniepoint is in that candy spot to guide this transition in Nigeria by providing contactless-enabled fee terminals to companies and chip playing cards to people, setting the stage for additional adoption.

Alternatively, Moniepoint will leverage Visa’s Cybersource system to realize higher visibility into transactions. Moreover, it plans to combine with Visa Direct for remittances and cash transfers because it appears to develop into markets inside and outdoors Africa.