By Adedapo Adesanya
Less than five days after the announcement of leading investment in PayDay, a fast-rising neo-bank, MoniePoint, may be acquiring the 21-month-old startup.
The news, first reported by WeeTracker, said the business banking startup is set to acquire Payday outright in the coming months, according to people familiar with the matter.
It was reported that the deal was negotiated while closing the oversubscribed $3 million seed announced Wednesday.
The series round was led by MoniePoint, which used to be known as TeamApt, with contributions from HoaQ, DFS Lab’s Stellar Africa Fund, Ingressive Capital Fund II and angel investors, including Mr Dare Okoudjou, Founder and CEO of MFS Africa and Mr Tola Onayemi, CEO of Norebase.
The report revealed that Moniepoint and Payday have agreed on broad terms to complete the transaction.
It was also disclosed that they would make it official by the end of Q2 2023, adding that investors and advisors are in the know.
Payday has raised over $5 million since its founding, with Ingressive Capital Fund II, Techstars, HoaQ, etc., among backers who are in line for an exit, a development that boosts Africa’s tech landscape at a time when funding has slowed, and talk of returns has surfaced.
With the $3 million funding it got, it plans on expanding its UK entity and operations off the ground while expanding to North America, with Canada the obvious target.
The company will also grow its talent base by 40 per cent to 50 employees, many of whom will come into its customer success department.
Commenting at that time, Moniepoint’s CEO, Mr Tosin Eniolorunda, said, “At Moniepoint, we’re excited about the unique things Favour and the team are doing with Payday. Personally, I connect deeply with his drive, technical depth, and desire to execute. The urge to encourage that fire inspired us to want to be a part of this.
“More important is the alignment in our goal to provide financial happiness by addressing key payment pain points—Moniepoint with merchants and Payday with individuals. We see a potential to leverage their infrastructure further to deepen our suite of financial services for merchants, and we’re looking forward to all that’s to come.”
On his part, Mr Favour Ori, CEO and Founder of Payday, said, “We’re 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.”
Aduragbemi Omiyale