Julaya, an Ivory Coast-based fintech has raised $550k from French Angel investors. The startup will use the funds to support SMEs and grow its business in the country.
Julaya was founded in 2018 by Mathias Léopoldie and Charles Talbot to provide SMEs with digital financial services. The informal sector and SMEs are looking to improve their operations with safer and faster transactions. Thus, Julaya provides value to businesses with various digital services.
The services include mobile money transfers, airtime top-up, prepaid bills and other transactions across all networks. Customers can transfer money to anyone with a Julaya account, Orange Money, MTN Momo and Moov for free. They can search for kiosks nearby to make deposits or withdraw funds.
See also: Apis Partners Raises $550 million to Support African & Asian Fintechs
Maxime Bayen’s list of African startups that have raised above $1m in 2019. These statistics show that the funds raised by French countries in Africa were few.
📅Week-end update: 8️⃣6️⃣ #startups in #Africa have raised $1M+ funding in 2019:
📊$1.2B raised cumul. in 94 deals
📊16 (19%) (co)founded by women
📊31% are in #Fintech
📊49% of funding goes to top 5 #startups
📊183 different investorsLet me know if I missed any! pic.twitter.com/AYUKQ6eptx
— Maxime Bayen (@MaxBayen) December 13, 2019
This funds raised by Julaya is one of the few secured by startups in Francophone Africa. It is the second Francophone startup to raise funds above $1 million in 2019. Daystar Power, a Mauritius energy startup raised 26 million in March.
It is generally difficult to raise capital in these countries due to the small market size, constant interference from government policies and inadequate technical expertise compared to other parts of Africa.
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