African fintech pawaPay secures $9-million

African fintech pawaPay has secured $9-million in a seed funding round co-led by  MSA and UK-based investment fund 88mph, with participation from Vunani Capital, Kepple Ventures and Zagadat Capital. 

pawapay has secured $9-million

According to reports the funding will be used to help scale the fintech’s operational presence, grow the existing team and expand in new markets across Africa. 

Nikolai Barnwell, CEO of pawaPay comments on the funding secured and the startup’s growth prospects.

“Africa’s alternative financial infrastructure is in an exciting phase with double digits CAGR everywhere. And mobile money has come out as the de facto money infrastructure for hundreds of millions of people on the continent. A quarter of the adult population is an active mobile money user. A third of all wallet holders have their salaries paid into them. We’re making a bet that this infrastructure will continue to grow and offer a superior experience than traditional financial infrastructures such as cards and banking.”

“With more than 500 million registered users on the continent – 200 million of which are active frequent users, this isn’t a fringe fad or a stepping stone to cards and swift payments. This is an example for the rest of the world of how payments could – and should look. Most of our competitors are largely focused on bank and card payments, but over the past many years we have been laser-focused on addressing the unique set of challenges that accompanies specializing in mobile money. I think this gives us a good position to explore the opportunities that are coming up as this alternative financial infrastructure continues to grow.”

pawaPay

Founded in 2020 and with headquarters in London, pawaPay assists global companies in accepting payments from African consumers. This is done through the fintech simple API which enables merchants to access over 300 million customers in over 10 markets through mobile money. In addition, the platform offers transparent and reliable payments offering security and safety for merchants and consumers.

According to the tech startup, its single API allows customers to access all telco mobile money systems and send and receive payments to hundreds of people.

Offering a financial service to the underbanked in Africa, the startup handles local operations, compliance and regulatory cover and bank accounts.

Kresten Buch, Founder of 88mph comments on their investment into the fintech.

“When we first invested in Africa in 2010, one of the key drivers was that mobile money was a superior payment method to credit and debit cards when used for online payment. So, we are excited to be an investor in pawaPay’s journey and continue to witness the development of digital infrastructure in Africa.”

Read more: Egypt tech startup secures $15-million investment 

Featured image:Nikolai Barnwell, CEO of pawaPay (Supplied)