Mono bags $15Mn in Series A funds to expand operations in Africa

Mono bags $15Mn in Series A funds to expand operations in Africa

African fintech startup, Mono has reportedly raised USD 15 million in a Series A funding round led by Tiger Global, making it the venture capital firm’s third investment in Africa in 2021 after FairMoney and Flutterwave.

The round witnessed the participation of new investors like SBI Investment, General Catalyst, and Target Global.

These new investors were joined by present ones such as Lateral Capital, Entree Capital, Acuity VC, Ingressive Capital, and Palm Investments, bringing Mono’s total raised capital to more than USD 17.5 million since its launch in 2020.  

As per sources, close to 50% of the African population is either underbanked or unbanked. Open finance companies like Mono aim at providing access to a financial ecosystem through open APIs that will enhance access to financial information and reduce the entry cost for the underbanked.

Commenting on the most beneficial products offered by Mono, its CEO, Abdulhamid Hassan mentioned that the first product is DirectPay that helps Nigerian businesses to collect bank transfer payments from clients from their web or mobile application without the use of their debit cards.  

The next one is Statement Pages- which gives businesses access to the financial account of customers without the need for a developer, Mr. Hassan added.

Although most of the services offered by Mono are tailored to the Nigerian audience, the company is seeking to expand into markets in Kenya and Ghana.

At present, the startup has delivered only in Ghana, piloting with certain banks and fintech like Tranzo and Oze. However, Mono is aiming at entering the markets in Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya by 2022.

In the coming times, the company is also aiming at a vertical expansion as it is aiming at offering enterprise solutions to law firms, FMCGs, non-tech and conventional industries to command more transaction volume.

According to a statement by Mono, the firm claims to have processed more than 200 million financial data transactions from 270 businesses, fintech, and developers.

Source Credit: https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/11/tiger-global-backs-african-fintech-mono-in-15m-series-a-round/