TeamApt, a Nigerian fintech that provides financial services for the underserved mass market, has closed a Series B round for an undisclosed fee. The company's last seed around was in 2019, which was solely funded by a single VC - Quantum Capital Partners, a firm owned by Zenith Bank billionaire Jim Ovia.
Novastar Ventures led the latest seed round. It featured other investors like FMO, Global Ventures, CDC, Oui Capital, Kepple Africa Ventures, Soma Capital, and a syndicate of local angel investors, including Gbenga Oyebode. The funding will see the company extend their offerings directly to customers and micro-SMEs, giving them access to the financial access lifelines they need to succeed while expanding its solutions beyond Nigeria.
“TeamApt has swiftly and successfully established its agency network to become the leading operator in Nigeria, a testament to the team’s capabilities and the platform’s superior user experience. We are glad to catalyze their vision by providing TeamApt with sufficient capital to pursue its new phase of growth.” Brian Waswani Odhiambo, Head of West Africa at Novastar Ventures
Speaking on the recent development, Tosin Eniolorunda, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TeamApt, said, “Universal access to financial services is key to the advancement of any society. We built Moniepoint because we believe everyone deserves to enjoy financial happiness, and this can only happen when they can access financial services effortlessly.”
“This fundraise is happening at a significant time in our growth as a company. In the past years, we have exceeded several strategic milestones without external funding, helping accelerate the Central Bank of Nigeria’s target of 95% financial inclusion by 2024, but as the hurdles of financial access are not unique to Nigeria, this funding allows us to extend our solutions to other parts of Africa,” he added.
“TeamApt’s promise to deliver ‘financial happiness’ for the underserved mass market in Africa makes the company an excellent fit with FMO’s Ventures Program. We are excited to contribute to closing the financial inclusion gap in Nigeria – and invest in the company alongside FMO investee fund manager Novastar Ventures and other like-minded investors.” Jaap Reinking, Director Private Equity at FMO.
Launched in 2015, TeamApt has more than 15 million customers and 100,000 businesses and claims to have processed $17.5 billion worth of transactions in the past 12 months through its product - Moniepoint and Monnify. That is a 1,081% increase from the previous year, with an average of 68 million transactions performed on its platform every month.
With this raise, TeamApt will further leverage its agent network to provide broader financial services to the underserved consumers and businesses in Nigeria. The company also has its sights on other markets in Africa where there are significant opportunities for leveraging technology and offline distribution to provide financial services to the mass market.
TeamApt is on the course of securing another round. Eniolorunda confirmed to TechCrunch that it would be a Series C round.
Nigeria in focus
GDP: $432.294 billion in 2020 compared to $448.12 billion in 2019
Population: 206,139,587 in 2020 compared to 200,963,03 in 2019
GDP per capita: $2,097 in 2020 compared to $2,229 in 2019
