$15 M Series A raised by Nigerian fintech startup Bamboo to boost growth
Bamboo, a Nigerian brokerage software that allows Africans to purchase and trade US equities in real-time, has acquired a $15 million Series A fundraising round to help it expand into other countries and provide additional products.
Bamboo, which debuted in January 2020, is an investing platform that gives Africans real-time access to dollar-denominated assets through its platform. Users may fill their account with their dollar or local currency balance and begin trading in equities virtually immediately.
Bamboo has around 300,000 accounts in Nigeria thus far. Meanwhile, asset managers, fintech businesses, and other consumer-facing platforms and financial institutions may utilise an API solution to connect Bamboo’s API and provide worldwide access to their consumers.
Greycroft and Tiger Global led the US $15 million Series A round, which included participation from Motley Fool Ventures, Saison Capital, Chrysalis Capital, and Y-Michael Combinator’s Seibel, among others.
Bamboo intends to use the funds to accelerate its expansion by doubling its focus on expanding into new areas and developing new goods. More than 50,000 Ghanaians have signed up for the Bamboo waitlist since the company revealed plans to start in the country in April 2021.
“Our goal is simple: we want to give Africans and their asset managers easy, fast and secure access to global investment options that will allow them to earn real returns. We’re building the technology infrastructure powering financial services in Africa such that if you’re investing in the global capital markets from Africa, you’ll be doing so using Bamboo, directly or indirectly,” said Richmond Bassey, Bamboo’s CEO and co-founder.
“We also want to make it seamless for African investors in the diaspora to discover the best investment opportunities on the continent. We’re excited about our work with local regulators so far to make this a reality.”
Alison Lange Engel, a Greycroft partner, said she was “thrilled” to support the Bamboo team’s creative, user-first approach to the market.
“Bamboo is enabling Africans to build wealth by creating an investing platform that is helpful to both experienced investors and to those new to the stock market,” she said.
