Nigerian fintech startup, Bamboo raises $15m Series A from Greycroft and Tiger Global
Nigerian brokerage app that lets Africans buy and trade US stocks in real-time, Bamboo, has announced it raised $15 million Series A funding round to accelerate its growth, move into new markets and launch more products.
The round was led by Greycroft and Tiger Global with participation from Motley Fool Ventures, Saison Capital, Chrysalis Capital and Y-Combinator’s Michael Seibel, amongst others.
Bamboo was launched in January 2020 by Richmond Bassey, Yanmo Omorogbe. The startup operates as an investment platform that unlocks global markets for Africans by providing real-time access to dollar-denominated assets via its platform.
The digital investment platform provides real-time access to buy, hold, or sell stocks for users who can also fund with their dollar or local currency balance almost instantly and start investing in stocks.
Bamboo has not operated without some challenges as the startup had been a victim of Nigeria’s apex bank’s investigation of illegal foreign exchange transactions’ by the Fintech companies in August last year. The Central Bank then sought an injunction to freeze their bank accounts for 180 days pending the completion of the investigation.
So far, Bamboo has been able to overcome policy challenges, gaining over 300,000 accounts in Nigeria within the period.
Richmond Bassey, Bamboo’s CEO and co-founder spoke on the API solution offered by Bamboo to offer their users global access.
“Our goal is simple: we want to give Africans and their asset managers easy, fast and secure access to global investment options that will allow them to earn real returns. We’re building the technology infrastructure powering financial services in Africa such that if you’re investing in the global capital markets from Africa, you’ll be doing so using Bamboo, directly or indirectly,” said Richmond.
“We also want to make it seamless for African investors in the diaspora to discover the best investing opportunities on the continent. We’re excited about our work with local regulators so far to make this a reality.”
Greycroft partner Alison Lange Engel said she was “thrilled” to support the innovative, user-first approach the Bamboo team is bringing to market.
“Bamboo is enabling Africans to build wealth by creating an investing platform that is helpful to both experienced investors and to those new to the stock market,” she said.
The latest funding will be use to further accelerate its growth, doubling down on unlocking new markets and launching more products.