NALA raises $10Mn to boost the remittance business in Africa

NALA raises $10Mn to boost the remittance business in Africa

NALA, a Tanzanian cross-border payments firm, has reportedly announced raising $10 million in a new investment tranche, after its recent transition from regional to international money transfers.

NALA began testing its international transfers after customers expressed interest in transferring money from the United Kingdom to East African countries.

Imperatively, the prospects for the remittance business remain profitable, even after the digital transfers seek less than 20% of the transfer amount, dominated by conventional offline payment modes.

Notably, Africa remains the most expensive country to transfer payments to, for which online platforms like NALA pitch the clients with competitive rates and a 10.6% average transaction fees.

Additionally, other market players facilitating transfers from UK like Lemonade Finance, Sendwave, and Chipper Cash, are predicted to grow considerably over the years.

Speculations have it that NALA has recorded a significant development since testing out its UK money transfer service, allowing payments to Uganda, Kenta, Tanzania and others, with almost 8,000 customers conducting transfers worth eight figures.

Benjamin Fernandes, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at NALA, stated that the primary customer base the company is catering to, lies in the UK. Meanwhile, the firm has also received an approval to go live in the US and EU, and the company plans to expand its roots in almost 12 African countries.

According to Fernandes, NALA is linked to Revolut, a European fintech unicorn, now turned into a financial super app which provides currency exchange, multi-currency bank accounts and other services.

As per credible reports, NALA has hired Subuola Abraham, former group chief compliance officer at pan-African bank Guaranty Trust Bank and ex-Citi UK MLRO, to lead its compliance efforts.

Furthermore, the company has also made a deal with Citi Bank Global to supervise its fast-rate growth throughout various regions and the F.X.

Source Credits:- https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/27/tanzanian-fintech-nala-raises-10m-seed-to-build-revolut-for-africa/