Nigerian Financial Super-App, YEP!, Raises $1.5m in Pre-Seed Funding
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Loading... - Barbara Godwin
- 14 Mar 2022
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Yep!, a financial super-app, has raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Greenhouse Capital as the company launches its revolutionary new digital financial super app on iOS and Android in five African countries (Nigeria, Niger, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso).
The company has ambitious growth plans of doubling an existing network of about 100,000 merchants to over 200,000 by the end of 2022.
The founders are also in discussions with international credit providers to increase the super-app’s debt facility to $10 million by the end of this year as the company scales its lending operations.
Olaoluwa Awojoodu, Yep! Co-Founder said: “We have secured a $500,000 credit facility that will enable us to kick-start the provision of working capital loans to our existing merchants as we expand across the continent. As we strive to deliver on our promise of bringing financial access to all Africans and connecting Africans to the world, increasing Yep!’s lending capacity will be a key catalyst in pulling more customers and merchants into our ecosystem. Access to finance can be transformative – it unlocks opportunities among those that need it the most and has a huge impact on the wider economy.”
Yep! is a digital financial services company leveraging technology to deliver unconventional and intuitive financial services and solutions that fills the gap left by existing banking models which fail to serve Africa’s unbanked, underserved and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
As part of its mission to boost financial inclusion, Yep! will leverage its existing merchant network, PayCentre Africa, to ease entry into the formal economy for rural communities, who would otherwise be financially excluded. The company’s services enable entrepreneurs, small business owners, students, MSMEs, and merchants to gain safe and easy access to financial solutions digitally.
In 2021 alone, over 5 million customers transacted more than $2 billion through the company’s growing network of merchants. In an attempt to close the loop, bank these customers; Yep! secured a microfinance bank (MFB) licence in Nigeria, enabling the company to set up accounts for customers, businesses, and merchants, in a matter of seconds.
The firm is exploring partnerships with leading U.S. banks and service providers to expand its products to customers in the U.S., building on remittance flows to Africa from the diaspora and migrants from the region. Product lines across the Atlantic will include low-cost and freely accessible remittances to African countries, free checking and saving accounts and a credit card to start. Read More…
