Visa’s Strategic Investment in Moniepoint: A New Chapter for African Fintech
In a move poised to reshape the African fintech landscape, global payments giant Visa has made a strategic investment in Moniepoint, a leading business banking and payments platform. As confirmed by TechCrunch, this partnership aims to bolster financial inclusion and empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the continent. Although Moniepoint has not disclosed the exact amount from Visa, sources suggest it exceeds $10 million, adding to their impressive Series C funding round which now surpasses $120 million.
Moniepoint’s Rapid Growth Trajectory
Moniepoint has been making waves with its innovative financial tools, offering businesses and individuals seamless access to banking accounts, credit, and payment services through its app and network of agents. The company processes over 1 billion transactions monthly with total payment volumes reaching $22 billion—a remarkable growth of over 25% within three months. This surge is largely attributed to Nigeria’s Central Bank’s cashless initiative launched in early 2023.
“We’re present in Nigeria today, leading the chart in merchant acquiring and consumer banking,” stated Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO of Moniepoint. “With Visa as our investor, we can strategically collaborate to continue to grow the payment ecosystem and expand to more countries, which is a key goal for us.”
– Tosin Eniolorunda
Nigeria’s Thriving Digital Payment Ecosystem
Nigeria’s digital payment market is vast, encompassing electronic transfers, ATMs, POS devices, mobile agents, and web payments. In 2023 alone, transactions reached an impressive $400 billion. Data from Stears indicates that electronic transfers dominate this landscape, powered by the instant payments network NIP—which draws parallels with India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix—accounting for nearly 90% of these transactions.
- Electronic Transfers: Approximately 90% of transactions
- ATMs & POS Devices: Trail behind significantly
- Mobile Agents & Web Payments: Emerging as noteworthy channels
Visa’s Vision for Contactless Payments
With Visa now on board, both companies are setting their sights on advancing contactless payments—a crucial step forward echoed by Nigeria’s Central Bank’s recent draft guidelines for transaction limits in 2023. Eniolorunda highlighted that contactless services will enhance accessibility and facilitate micro-transactions, marking progress in the right direction.
Globally, Visa observes that contactless card usage often outpaces mobile wallets in many markets. Moniepoint is strategically positioned to lead this transition within Nigeria by providing contactless-enabled payment terminals to businesses and chip cards to individuals.
Expanding Horizons with Visa’s Expertise
The partnership also involves leveraging Visa’s Cybersource system for enhanced transaction visibility and integrating with Visa Direct for remittances and money transfers. This collaboration aligns with Moniepoint’s ambitions to expand into new markets both within Africa and globally.
Visa’s investment is part of its broader strategy to fortify Africa’s payment infrastructure. Over the last decade, Visa has supported key players like Interswitch, Flutterwave, Paystack, and JUMO. With Moniepoint, Visa aims to penetrate Nigeria’s SME market further by digitizing their payments and increasing its share in the country’s card scheme market—currently led by Interswitch’s Verve and Mastercard.
“Visa’s investment in Moniepoint is the latest example of our long-standing commitment to advancing digital economies in Africa,” said Andrew Torre, Regional President of Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Visa. “We will enable even the smallest businesses to thrive through innovative payment and software solutions that allow SMEs to scale and open new revenue opportunities while streamlining their operations.”
– Andrew Torre
A Bright Future for African SMEs
Following its investment, Visa will join Moniepoint’s board alongside other notable backers such as Development Partners International, Google’s Africa Investment Fund, QED Investors, and British International Investment (BII). As Moniepoint continues its upward trajectory, early investors like Oui Capital are already reaping rewards from their early faith in this African unicorn.
