Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Popular social payments app, Bitsika has announced an impressive increase in its number in volume, revenue, users, and transactions for the year 2020.
According to the numbers made available via the company’s Twitter account, it was claimed that from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2021, the volume of transactions carried out increased by 3,998.3 per cent. This happened as it processed a total of $39,953,115 in transaction volume compared to $974,864 we processed in 2019.
Providing a breakdown, the company, which is a wallet for Cedis, Naira, Dollars, CFA currencies, cryptocurrencies, among others, noted that deposits amounted to $18,872,474; $17,890,807 in payouts (withdrawals); and $3,189,834 in internal peer-to-peer transfers.
Revenue wise, Bitsika collected $1,027,583 in fees in 2020 compared with $329 in 2019, indicating a significant rise of 312,235.3 per cent.
Speaking of the veracity of the figures, the company noted, “These volumes are from self-determined, autonomous [successful] transactions that users initiated and performed themselves. We did NOT count system transactions that users did not initiate.”
Bitsika announced that it processed a total of 268,430 individual (successful) transactions, an increase of 5,008.5 per cent compared to 4,832 successful transactions carried out in 2019.
The company added that of the said successful transactions, 21,418 were internal peer-to-peer transactions while the rest (247,012) was a combination of deposit and payout transactions.
Its user base grew to 95,509 registered users; more than 95 per cent of which came onto the platform in 2020. Within the year, Bitsika noted that 16,507 individual users made at least one successful transaction.
The company noted that 11,142 users currently have some money on the app, waiting to use it on any of its many features.
Speaking on the result, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Mr Atsu Davoh explained that, “This number is NOT our take-home profit. After expenses and payments to our other third-parties are done, what we’re left with (net profit) is significantly much less.
“The best part about this particular metric is that it has helped us remain technically profitable and cash-flow positive for every single month of 2020.”
The Bitsika CEO explained that at the start of the year, the team had made plans to increased its numbers to get 20,000 users and process $10,000,000 in transactions, and the numbers were a testimony that it exceeded its own expectations.
He said, “These numbers are self-reported, but apart from our internal peer-to-peer transactions and volumes, there is an additional receipt of every single one of our transactions in the databases of their-party platforms like Futterwave and its equivalent for the other currencies we serve. This makes transparency much easier.”
Looking back on the year, the Ghanaian-born startup brought onboard film star, John Dumelo and musician, Joey B as well as inviting Nigerian pop king, David Davido Adeleke, his manager, Asa Asika, and celebrity tech-savvy lawyer, Mr Bobo Ajudua as shareholders.
The impact of these influencers could not be overlooked in the general outcome of these numbers as Mr Davoh noted about Davido, “We decided to go into this partnership with Davido because, in Africa, I don’t see anyone with his crazy numbers. I think his social engagement is the best in Africa. This is purely a business decision and we believe with the Davido board, now we can even 10x every single month.”
In 2021, the CEO says “We want to raise our Series A, get our own licensees in all the markets we operate, start our internship program for the design and tech communities, and provide more features in our app. We also want to expand our reach in and beyond fintech.”
Bitsika wishes to increase its 2020 numbers this year and with the positioning, the three-year-old startup is on course to achieve this.
