Nigerian Fintech startup Fairmoney raises $42million Series B
Nigerian micro-lending Fintech startup, Fairmoney has announced it raised $42m in a Series B funding round led by US hedge fund and investment firm Tiger Global. Existing investors that participated in the round include – partners of DST, Flourish Ventures, Newfund, and Speedinvest.
With an active presence in Nigeria and India, the startup plans to diversify its current offerings and expand to become the preferred financial destination for its users.
Fairmoney was founded in 2017 by Laurin Hainy (CEO), Matthieu Gendreau, Fairmoney (CTO), Nicolas Berthozat (Product co-founder). The startup provides mobile-based collateral-free lending services to Nigerians. Having expanded to India in 2020, the startup now plans to diversify its current offerings and expand to become the preferred financial destination for its users.
The startup’s growing active presence in Nigeria and India has been felt since 2020 as it claimed it had up to 1.3 million users who had made over 6.5 million loan applications, disbursing $93 million worth of loans.
Laurin Hainy CEO of Fairmoney has revealed that the startup has secured a Microfinance bank (MfB) license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as it plans to expand its services in the Fintech space. Hainy also revealed that Fairmoney plans to partner with super agents as it bids to become a top commercial bank in Nigeria.
“We’re going to delve into SME-lending and we’ll start offering current accounts to our customers.
“To reach Nigeria’s 57.8 million unbanked adults, the company plans to partner with a network of Super Agents around the country. The goal is to become one of the top two commercial banks in Nigeria in the coming years.
“Our vision is to build the financial home for our users and this new round of funding will allow us to go deeper into our core markets. we are incredibly excited by the opportunities ahead for FairMoney as we enable more underbanked consumers in emerging markets to access digital financial services,” Hainy says.
“With this funding, we’ll be hiring top talents across the globe, including over a hundred engineers from different countries. We’re a very mission-driven company so we’ll be hiring people with a growth mindset,” he adds.
Scott Shleifer, a Partner at Tiger Global speaking on the funding expressed satisfaction in partnering with Fairmoney.
“We are excited to partner with FairMoney as they build a better financial hub for customers in Nigeria and India. We were impressed by the team and the strong growth to date, and look forward to supporting FairMoney as they continue to scale,” says Scott Shleifer, a Partner at Tiger Global.