Africa-Focused Fintech Chipper Cash Weighs Possible Sale of Business – Fintech Bitcoin News

One of Africa’s fintech giants, Chipper Cash, is said to be considering the possibility of selling the business or bringing in new investors. According to the CEO of the FTX and Silicon Valley Bank-backed fintech startup, Chipper Cash had negligible exposure to both SVB and Signature Bank.

Chipper Cash ‘Never sought to be acquired’

The FTX and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)-backed African fintech giant, Chipper Cash, is considering options, including selling the business or bringing in new investors, a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources has said. According to the report, the fintech, which began exploring its options before SVB’s sudden collapse, is yet to make a final decision on what course of action it will take.

As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News in late 2021, Chipper Cash successfully raised $150 million in a Series C expansion led by now-collapsed crypto exchange FTX. SVB, which led the first Series C, also participated in the round, as did Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos Expeditions, One Way Ventures and Tribe Capital.

However, after a turbulent 2022 that climaxed with FTX’s collapse, Chipper Cash saw its value drop from $2 billion in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022 to $1.25 billion by December 2022. Faced with rising costs, Chipper Cash also trimmed its workforce.

Negligible exposure to SVB

Meanwhile, the closure of SVB by US authorities is reported to have fueled speculation that Chipper Cash – a customer of SVB – would be hit hard by the bank’s demise. However, in a statement sent to Bloomberg, Chipper Cash insisted that its owners had never considered selling the business.

“It has been fairly common practice for us to receive various M&A proposals from various parties, which we assess to varying degrees. That said, we have never sought to be acquired,” the fintech said.

In its message to stakeholders on March 12, Chipper Cash co-founder and CEO Ham Serunjogi claimed the fintech unicorn had negligible exposure to both SVB and Signature Bank. At the time of SVB’s collapse, Chipper Cash had about $1 million in the bank.

Serunjogi also sought to play down SVB’s perceived influence on fintech by pointing to the collapsed bank’s shareholding in Chipper Cash.

“SVB was not the only investor in that round – we had several other new and existing investors participating in the $100 million round – and SVB owns a very small part of Chipper ~2%. Chipper is very fortunate to have a very broad and supportive investor base that has backed us from our earliest days and continues to do so today,” said the CEO.

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwean award-winning journalist, writer and author. He has written extensively about the economic problems in some African countries, as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.