Nigeria Fintech start-up, Mines Secures US$13m Series A Round

Nigerian based fintech start-up, Mines, has received a US$13 million ‘Series A’ funding round as part of its plan to expand into other emerging markets.

The start-up plans to use the investment for talent acquisition, continued growth in Africa, and expansion to South America and South-East Asia.

Mines provides a Credit-as-a-Service digital platform that enables institutions in emerging markets to offer credit products to their customers, with no smartphones required.

The company’s proprietary technology has been used by over one million customers in Nigeria since it was launched in 2017. Mines is now the leading provider of consumer credit in the country, counting mobile operators 9mobile and Airtel, payment processors — Interswitch and NIBSS, plus several banks, amongst its partners.

It has now closed a Series A round of US$13 million led by The Rise Fund, a global fund managed by TPG Growth. Also participating are Velocity Capital, Western Technology Investments, First Ally Capital, X/Seed Capital, NYCA Partners, Persistent Capital, Singularity Investments, Trans Sahara Investments and the Bank of Industry.

“There are more than three billion adults globally without access to credit. Our vision is that every one of them will have instant access to credit in the next 10 years,” said Mines chief executive officer (CEO) Ekechi Nwokah.

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“We believe the best way to realise this vision is to partner with banks, retailers and mobile operators and power digital credit products tailored to their markets so they can create the customers of tomorrow, today.”

The start-up claims to have taken Silicon Valley technology and built it into a product that is robust enough for emerging markets like Nigeria.