Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian fintech company, MoniePoint, has acquired Kenyan fintech company, Kopo Kopo, after it received approval from the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK).
The acquisition will see the company lap up 100 per cent of the Kenyan fintech company as part of efforts to deepen its reach in the East African market.
“We have a publicly stated interest in Kenya as part of our mission to provide financial happiness for people across Africa,” the company said.
“We are delighted to have taken the first step to secure regulatory approval for our plans to provide financial happiness to Kenyans and look forward to progressing the transaction,” it added.
According to a statement from the CAK, the approval was based on the two key considerations during the merger analysis. One was that the transaction is unlikely to negatively impact competition in the market for digital credit, and secondly, the transaction will not elicit negative public interest concerns.
Kopo Kopo was founded in 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya by Mr Ben Lyon and Mr Dylan Higgins. It provides digital payment solutions, access to credit, and other business tools through integrated software. Its services include payment aggregation, business-to-business payments, merchant cash advances, business intelligence, and more.
This is the latest development after the company said it was moving into retail banking as it sets up personal banking services through a new consumer app and debit card.
This move puts it in direct competition with OPay and PalmPay, as well as other traditional banks, as it will be able to connect businesses and customers more effectively while supporting them with reliable infrastructure and services.
The company said the service will be available to its 33 million terminal users across Nigeria and the cards can be used at the over 1.5 million businesses that currently use the Moniepoint Microfinance Bank platform.
