Tiger Global Management led the round. Existing investors from the company’s previous rounds, DST Partners, Flourish Ventures, Newfund, and Speedinvest, participated. The investment comes after FairMoney raised EUR 10 million Series A in 2019 and EUR 1.2 million seed in 2018.
Founded in 2017, FairMoney started as an online lender that provides instant loans and bill payments to customers in Nigeria. FairMoney also ticked one of the goals which was acquiring a microfinance bank license. The license allows FairMoney to operate as a financial service provider in Nigeria.
Of the company’s current 3.5 million registered users, 1.3 million are unique bank account holders. The company says it is projecting to disburse USD 300 million worth of loans to them in 2021. How will it finance that? By raising bonds. FairMoney’s loan book is grown by its capital markets activity and has convinced some investment banks to invest a substantial amount in its unlisted bond.
The credit-led neobank offers loans to individuals from USD 3 to USD 1000, ranging from days to six months. Small business loans have become a prominent service most digital banks have begun to offer in Nigeria’s retail sector, and FairMoney sees an opportunity there. From now on, the company will start servicing loans to registered SMEs in Nigeria. In the works also is the issuance of cards. FairMoney is shipping debit cards, the more prevalent model in the Nigerian market.
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