Must-Know Fintech Companies In Nigeria, Nigerian Fintech companies are leading Africa’s fintech revolution and many have slowly become a force to be reckoned with in the industry.
Most of the funding that came into the country last year was received by fintech companies, with 44% of the startup funding deals. The adoption of digital financial services has also grown lately. For instance, in 2019 US$256 billion was transferred electronically, an exponential increase from US$48 billion in 2014.
In 2020, it was estimated that there were more than 200 fintech companies in Nigeria. And by 2022, the country’s fintech sector is expected to reach revenues of US$543 million.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also made focused on this niche recently, launching the e-Naira, and banking services approval for MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa.
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Furthermore, two of Africa’s five fintech unicorns are Nigeria-based, and so are a third of the continent’s top digital banks. Without further ado, here are some of the top ones to keep an eye on.
Top Fintech Companies in Nigeria
1. OPay
Founding date: 2018
Founders: Zhou Yahui
Industry: Mobile money
Headquarters: Lagos, Nigeria
OPay’s mobile money service offers users the means to pay for utilities, do P2P transfers, and save too. The company also has an offline banking service through which users that don’t have smartphones can still perform transactions.
OPay is also the only African startup to be listed in CB Insights Fintech 250 2021.
2. Paga
Founding date: 2009
Founders: Tayo Oviosu
Industry: Mobile money
Headquarters: Lagos, Nigeria
Paga is a mobile money solution with transfers, bill payments, top-ups, and remittance services as well. The company has 17 million users and is also available to offline users through a mobile money agent network.
The company only raised US$36.7 million in funding so far but counts some big names amongst its investors, such as Tim Draper (Crunchbase).
3. Interswitch
Founding date: 2002
Founders: Mitchell Elegbe
Industry: Paytech
Headquarters: Lagos, Nigeria
Interswitch was one of the earliest fintech companies in Nigeria, is one of its two unicorns, and has been deliberating an IPO for a while. It grew to a US$1 billion valuation after a minority investment (valued at US$200 million) from Visa in 2019.
4. Kuda
Founding date: 2019
Founders: Babs Ogundeyi, Musty Mustapha
Industry: Digital banking
Headquarters: London, England
This neo-bank, valued at US$500 million, is fully licensed by the CBN. Though based in London, Kuda is as of right now focused on the Nigerian market. It raised US$80 million from two rounds of funding this year and has garnered 1.4 million registered users.
Kuda accounts are accompanied by a free debit card, spending controls, and transfers and savings functions as well. The bank has also gotten rid of maintenance fees and offers users a specific list of free transfers each month.
In February this year, Kuda breezed past one million downloads for its Android app.
5. PiggyVest
Founding date: 2016
Founders: Joshua Chibueze, Nonso Eagle, Odunayo Eweniyi, Somto Ifezue
Industry: Savings and Investment
Headquarters: Lagos, Nigeria
PiggyVest offers three million customers savings and investment tools, but it’s not technically a full-fledged digital bank. The company provides fixed, flexible, goal-oriented, and automated savings options, as well as pre-vetted low-medium risk primary and secondary investment avenues for 6 – 12 months.
PiggyVest began as a savings-only platform Piggybank.ng, and then added its investment solutions as well in 2019.
6. Paystack
Founding date: 2015
Founders: Ezra Olubi, Shola Akinlade
Industry: Paytech
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Paystack has more than 60,000 registered business customers, and its investors include big names like Stripe (acquired the company in 2020), Visa, and Y Combinator. The service is also available in Ghana and South Africa. Paystack was based in Lagos before it was acquired by Stripe.
It is both an online and offline payments solution provider in Nigeria. It allows clients to integrate a host of payment options, such as card, bank transfers, USSD, Apple Pay, Visa QR, and mobile money. Paystack is hoping to launch a POS solution soon. In the meantime, Paystack also offers payments and data APIs.
7. Carbon
Founding date: 2012
Founders: Chijioke Dozie, Ngozi Dozie
Industry: Digital banking
Headquarters: London, England
Carbon is a CBN-licensed digital bank that offers a loan facility and investment opportunities along with regular digital banking features like debit cards. Accounts can use P2P payments, as well as bill payments and mobile recharges.
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