Chipper Cash, a mobile cross-border money transfer platform based in San Francisco is partnering with payment gateway company, Paystack to bring its cross-border payment services to Nigeria.
Founded in 2018 by Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, Chipper Cash is a payment platform that offers no-fee cross-border (P2P) mobile payment service. The platform reportedly has over 70,000 active users and claims to have processed about 250,000 transactions.
Speaking on their expansion plans, Serunjogi said their presence in Nigeria is necessary for their success in Africa.
I think for any company doing fintech across borders, that is looking to be successful in Africa, it’s imperative that you have a presence in Nigeria.
Ham Serunjogi, co-founder of Chipper Cash
He added that Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa and that its fintech industry is one of the most advanced on the continent.
Nigeria is the largest economy and most populous country in Africa. Its fintech industry is one of the most advanced in Africa, up there with Kenya and South Africa.
Ham Serunjogi, co-founder of Chipper Cash
To ensure that their Nigerian expansion is a success, Chipper Cash has decided to open a branch office in Lagos and has hired co-founder of Lagos-based ride-hailing startup Gokada, Abiodun Animashaun, as the manager for the Nigerian operations. Also, Alicia Levine will leave Nairobi-based internet hardware and service startup BRCK to become Chipper Cash’s chief operating officer.
Chipper Cash’s expansion into Nigeria brings the number of African countries where its services are available to six. Others are Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Nigeria’s fintech industry accounts for 65.2% of African startups, making it one of the most advanced in Africa, along with Kenya and South Africa.
The Nigerian expansion was fundamental to Chipper Cash goal of becoming a global fintech company.
In a recent Extra Crunch feature, Chipper Cash was one of 3 African fintech startup featured that expressed goals of global expansions.
To fuel its African expansion, Chipper Cash raised a $2.4 million seed round led by Deciens Capital in May. It also persuaded 500 Startups and Liquid 2 Ventures to join the round.
According to a 2018 WeeTracker survey, fintech now receives the bulk of VC capital and deal-flow to African startups.
The unbanked population in Africa remains large as estimates show that Africa’s 1.2 billion people represent the largest share of the world’s unbanked and underbanked population.
Chipper Cash joining Flutterwave and Paga in the fintech market in Nigeria would reduce the population of unbanked Nigerians.
Also, Chipper Cash’s no fee for transaction model will be attractive to Nigerians and maybe the honeycomb that drives their success in the country.