FairMoney, a Nigerian fintech startup, has raised $42 million in a Series B funding round.
Tiger Global, a US hedge fund and investment business, led this round.
DST Partners, Flourish Ventures, Newfund, and Speedinvest were among the existing investors who participated in the round.
FairMoney raised a €10 million Series A round two years ago and a €1.2 million seed round in 2018.
The firm, which already has a presence in Nigeria and India, intends to diversify its present offers and expand to become its users’ preferred financial destination.
FairMoney began operations in Nigeria in 2017 before extending to India last year. It was founded by Laurin Hainy, Matthieu Gendreau, and Nicolas Berthozat.
Fairmoney’s CEO, Laurin Hainy, said that the company has received a microfinance bank license from the CBN. FairMoney will be able to operate as a financial service provider in Nigeria as a result of the license.
In a statement, Scott Shleifer, partner at Tiger Global, said, “We are excited to collaborate with FairMoney as they construct a better financial hub for customers in Nigeria and India.” “We were impressed by the team and their rapid progress to date, and we look forward to continuing to support FairMoney as they grow.”
FairMoney now has 1.3 million unique users who have applied for more than 6.5 million loans. Last year, the company disbursed a total of $93 million in loans.
In Nigeria, individuals can borrow from N1,500 to N500,000 for up to six months with FairMoney.
There are presently 3.5 million users registered with the company.
This year, the company expects to release $300 million in loans to them, according to the company.
The company has processed over 500,000 loan applications from over 100,000 unique users in its short time in India.
“By the end of the year, we want the user to have a comprehensive banking experience, from peer-to-peer transfers and lending to debit cards and current accounts. In addition, depending on where regulation goes, we are working on a number of new services, such as savings products, stock trading, and crypto-trading products,” says Hainy.
This new round of funding will be used to expand the company’s present offerings to become its users’ financial hub, and strengthen its position in Nigeria and India.
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