$10 M funding received by Tanzanian fintech startup NALA for continental expansion
NALA, a Tanzanian finance firm, has acquired $10 million in investment, with aspirations to expand aggressively across Africa in 2022.
NALA, a previous winner of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge and Seedstars Tanzania, has created an app that enables users to send money from the UK to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Ghana. A service for enterprises is also being tested by the firm.
Amplo, Accel, and Bessemer Partners contributed $10 million, with involvement from angel investors including the creators of Monzo, Robinhood, Alloy, and Deel, as well as Peeyush Ranjan, the head of Google Payments. This year, NALA will begin a crowdfunding campaign in which its first customers will be able to purchase shares in the company.
The business hopes to use the funds to debut in 12 African nations before the end of the year, including Nigeria, as well as the United States (US) and the European Economic Area (EEA) in Q1.
“Payments in Africa are one per cent built. It’s 2022 and Africa’s still the most expensive place in the world to send money in and out of. Until this changes, we are limited by the opportunities of trade across the continent. Over the next five years, while logistics gets better, more places around the world are going to trade in and out of Africa, we are positioning ourselves to be at the forefront of this change,” said NALA CEO Benjamin Fernandes.
