By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian gig economy fintech startup, ImaliPay, has raised a $3 million seed round to deepen its financial services infrastructure across Nigeria and its other Sub-Saharan present markets – Kenya and South Africa.
The seed round includes participation from Leonnis Investments, a follow-on from Ten 13, as well Uncovered Fund, MyAsia VC, Sajid Rahman, KSK Angels, Jedar Capital, and Logos Ventures.
Others include Plug N Play Ventures, Untapped Global, Latam Ventures, Cliff Angels, Chandaria Capital, Changecom, and other angels from Serbia, Kenya and Norway.
Co-founded in 2020 by Mr Tatenda Furusa and Mr Sanmi Akinmusire, ImaliPay offers both new and existing gig workers or freelancers the ability to seamlessly save their income and receive in-kind loans through a buy now, pay later model tied to their trade.
The startup raised some funding in March 2021 and launched in South Africa in December having initially been active in Nigeria and Kenya. The undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding was used to scale its customer base, with the round led by Australian venture capital firm TEN13, which has also invested in the likes of Chipper Cash and Bookipi.
Other investors included in the raise were FINCA Ventures, Optimiser Foundation, Mercy Corps Ventures, Changecom, and angels from Nigeria, Kenya, Norway, and the United Kingdom (UK).
This new raise, which is a combination of debt and equity, comes after ImaliPay saw impressive traction following partnerships with Bolt, Glovo, SWVL, Amitruck, Safeboda, Gokada, and Max.ng.
It has now processed over 200,000 transactions and has seen 60X growth in the number of users of its platform.
It also collaborates with some of Africa’s largest licensed payment providers, such as Flutterwave, Paystack and Cellulant. On the merchant side, partners include Lami, Britam, Sanlam, Mycover genius, Cowrywise, Cornerstone, Ola Energy, Total Energies, Ti-Auto Corporation, and HiFI Corporation.
Speaking on the raise, co-founder, Mr Akinmusire said, “Our seed funding will go towards bringing on key recruits, improving technology and exploring new markets.”
On his part, Mr Furusa said, “Our drive to start and keep ImaliPay soaring is firmly rooted in the impact we would like to make in fostering financial security in the gig economy, serving the underbanked and walking them through a tailored journey of financial inclusion. Having strong partners and investors around the table is a show of good faith that we are building key services for the future of work.”
Speaking for the investors, Mr Stew Glynn, co-founder and managing partner at Ten13, “Fuelling disruptive startups and building ecosystems is the heartbeat of our investment model at Ten13, we’re excited to follow on and be part of ImaliPay’s journey as they re-shape the future of financial services for the African gig economy.”
Dipo Olowookere