Maviance PLC, a Cameroon-based fintech firm, reported that it has closed a USD 3 million seed investment round from MFS Africa, a pan-African digital payments center that has joined as a strategic investor.
Maviance chose MFS Africa as an investor to take advantage of the company’s pan-African infrastructure, as well as its extensive product portfolio and collaborations, to bring new digital financial products to the CEMAC area.
Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) employ over 90% of the workforce in Cameroon and account for about 36% of GDP.
Many MSMEs, on the other hand, do not have access to digital financial services that would help them expand their businesses.
Maviance has seen an increase in demand from companies to digitize their payment processes and move away from cash since the outbreak of COVID-19.
MFS Africa has over 320 million mobile money wallets in Africa and has connected key service providers, payment providers, financial institutions, and mobile money operators to its Smobilpay digital financial services platform.
Smobilpay’s digital financial services help companies increase revenue by enabling consumers to switch from cash to digital transactions.
They also provide more affordable digital financial services to underserved MSMEs, agents, banks, and financial institutions in the Central African economic region (CEMAC).
“We are really excited about Maviance’s product pipeline and expansion,” said Jerry Cheambe, Maviance’s founder, who led the negotiations. The opportunities in central Africa are enormous, and demand has exploded in the last year thanks to the introduction of Covid-19, as companies of all sizes embrace digital financial services. Furthermore, the change in regulators’ mindsets toward progressive legislation and regulatory convergence allows us to provide seamless services across various geographies and customer segments.”
“The rapid growth of digital financial services that we have seen in Cameroon over the past few years is poised to spread across the CEMAC region,” said Dare Okoudjou, founder and CEO of MFS Africa, who led the deal. MSMEs, social enterprises, and corporations in the country would have even more demand for domestic and cross-border payments as a result of this.
“With MFS Africa, Maviance has gained not only a funding partner, but more importantly a strategic investor who will provide valuable impetus to allow us to expand our service portfolio and network, as well as to expand into the other five countries within the CEMAC region, through the GIMACPAY switch,” says Maviance CEO Nkwenti Azong-Wara.
Maviance, which serves over 500,000 unique customers each month, joins MFS Africa, which has linked key service providers, payment providers, financial institutions, and mobile money operators to its Smobilpay digital financial services platform.
Maviance plans to use the new funds to extend its presence in Cameroon and into other countries in the Central African economic region.
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