Moniepoint leads a $3 million investment in African fintech startup, Payday

Important highlights

• Nigerian fintech, Moniepoint leads other investors to inject $3 million into Payday.
• Payday said it would deploy the fund to drive its “future of work” initiative through borderless payment options in major currencies.
• The latest investment brings Payday’s total raise since 2021 when it was established to $5 million.

A group of investors led by Moniepoint has invested $3 million in Payday, a Nigerian fintech company that facilitates international payments.

Other investors that participated in the oversubscribed seed raise include Techstars, HoaQ, DFS Labs Stellar Africa Fund, Ingressive Capital Fund II and angel investors such as MFS Africa CEO Dare Okoudjou and Norebase CEO Tola Onayemi.

Payday, which earlier in 2021 had closed a $2 million upfront deal, said it would implement the new increase to drive its “future of work” initiative through borderless payment options in major currencies. With total raises since its inception now totaling $5 million, Payday said it would also look to secure operational licensing in the UK and Canada as it builds out its business in the former, where the startup has recently incorporated.

According to a company statement, Payday processes an average of 40,000 transactions per day worth millions of dollars and adds 100,000 users monthly. As of today, the company said it has over 330,000 users.

Why Moniepoint invested in Payday

Commenting on the investment, CEO of Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt) Tosin Eniolorunda said:

• “At Moniepoint, we are excited about the unique things Favor and the team are doing with Payday. Personally, I deeply connect with his drive, technical depth and desire to execute. The urge to fuel that fire inspired us to want to be a part of this.
• “Even more important is the alignment of our goal to provide financial happiness by addressing key payment issues – money point with merchants and payroll with individuals. We see the potential to further leverage their infrastructure to deepen our suite of merchant financial services, and we look forward to all that is to come”.

Speaking about the company’s new fundraising, Payday CEO and founder Favor Ori said:

• “This investment represents a significant milestone for our company and we are grateful for the trust and commitment from our existing and new investors. We are thrilled that this round of funding will lay the foundation for the continued growth of our platform as we expand our services to a wider audience.
• Our passion for empowering individuals and companies with practical and secure payment solutions is tangible. This funding will allow us to do that even more.”

What you should know

In June 2021, Favor Ori launched Payday from Rwanda to facilitate global payments from and to Africa, with a widespread use case for remote African workers to receive payments from their employers and spend anywhere in the world. The incorporation in Rwanda and admission to Techstar’s Toronto accelerator made it the first time the latter admitted a Rwandan startup to its three-month accelerator program.

Today, the fintech startup allows those on the continent and in the diaspora to send and receive money in 23 currencies, including USD, GBP and EUR, from over 130 countries. Thus, Africans working remotely can receive their money in foreign currency and withdraw in the currency of their choice using virtual Mastercard and Visa cards.