The Nigerian-founded fintech company is one of Africa’s few unicorns and has raised a total of US$200 million after completing the second tranche of its Series C funding round.
Moniepoint has completed its second tranche of Series C funding, raising an additional $90 million in equity financing. The company announced the completion of its latest transaction on October 21st.
International firm Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) provided legal advice to lead investor Development Partners International (DPI) and fellow investor Leapfrog Investments throughout the discovery of Africa Development III. Other participants include Alder Tree Investments, Google Africa Investment Fund, Lightrock, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Proparco, Swedfund, Verod Capital Management and Visa. Financial Technology Partners acted as exclusive financial and strategic advisor to Moniepoint.
Founded in June 2015 in Lagos as TeamApt and renamed in 2019, Moniepoint is a high-profile financial services platform with over 10 million commercial and personal banking active users, processing over USD 250 billion in digital transactions annually.
The closing of this second tranche follows the completion of the first tranche of the Series C round in October last year, which raised US$110 million and valued Moniepoint at over US$1 billion, thereby tilting the company toward “unicorn” status.
Moniepoint plans to use the proceeds to fund faster expansion within and beyond the African continent, increasing its ability to help African users achieve their financial objectives.
“Today is a proud day for Monypoint,” founder and group CEO Tosin Anyorunda said in a statement announcing the completion. “We founded the company out of a true passion to expand financial inclusion and help African entrepreneurs realize their potential. That same passion drives the work we do today, and it’s heartening to know it’s shared by a leading global institution.”
Karima Ola, Partner at LeapFrog Investments, added: “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are at the heart of Africa’s economies, creating the majority of jobs and driving innovation. However, the majority lack access to digital banking and formal credit. Moniepoint has become an essential partner for MSMEs by giving them the digital tools and confidence they need to trade at scale, grow and employ others.”
DPI and Leapfrog received legal advice from the NRF team led by Bayo Odubeko, qualified London partner in Nigeria and England and Wales, assisted by senior associate Matthew Eccles and associate Ellen Penn, and New York partner Ryan Wagoner assisted with the Delaware legal aspects of the transaction.
In October, Nigeria was one of four African countries removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list due to significant improvements in anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations.
