Piggybank.ng, Nigeria’s online and mobile app savings platform, has secured a seed Funding of $1.1M, from High Net Worth Individuals, led by Olumide Soyombo, Founder of LeadPath Nigeria, with support from International and Pan-African investors Village Capital and Ventures Platform.
The company will deploy the VC investment for license acquisition and product development.
Having completed accelerator programs with Blackbox, the CCHub’s Pitch Drive, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, and Google Launchpad Africa, Piggybank.ng has built a savings community of over 53,000 registered users of which approximately 60% are Nigerian Millennials, who have saved in excess of $5M, with a savings growth of 3000% between 2016-17.
Founded in 2016 by Nigerian born entrepreneurs; Somto Ifezue, Odunayo Eweniyi and Joshua Chibueze. Piggybank.ng is positioned to fill a void for tens of millions of Nigerians, who have no access to credit and a profitable savings culture.
Piggybank.ng also claims to have recently acquired a micro-financing license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The license, which provides the relevant regulatory cover, will allow them independence from partnering with banks.
The company will also be expanding its product range to include Smart Target, a group savings tool, that can be scaled from family-size to large corporations, based on the age-long West African tradition of ajo or esusu to leverage the power of communal savings and harness the network effect of accountability.