African Fintech Startup Chipper Cash Considers Sell-Off Amid Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

African cross-border payments startup, Chipper Cash, is reportedly considering a possible sell-off amid the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse.

Although the startup has been faced with some challenges of late, with the most recent being the financial implosion of SVB. In a recent response to Bloomberg, it disclosed that it has never sought to be acquired.

The company said, “It’s a fairly common practice for us to receive various M&A proposals from different parties, which we evaluate to varying degrees. That being said, we have never sought to be acquired”.

Meanwhile, following the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Chipper Cash CEO Ham Serunjogi put out a statement claiming that the slump of both Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank, while chaotic, had an insignificant effect on the payments company.

He added that the startup customer operations were not interrupted by SVB’s failure, noting that the firm has multiple other banking partners in the United States. Nevertheless, he said SVB played a special role in supporting the company, particularly in its early days.

In 2021, Chipper Cash raised $250 million in a round led by SVB and FTX which saw its valuation reach $2 billion at that time. Since then, it has been negatively impacted by events related to two of its strong investors, FTX and Silicon Valley bank.

Following the shutdown of FTX last year, Chipper Cash saw its valuation slashed from $2 billion to $1.25 billion. The company has since conducted several layoff rounds. 

Chipper Cash, which has Afro beats Nigerian Grammy award winner Burna Boy and Ex-French professional football player Patrice Evra as celebrity endorsers, went into the market this year to raise more money, most likely as a cushion to weather the current macroeconomic situation. 

Founded in 2018 to provide a no-fee peer-to-peer cross-border payment service for Africans, the startup has established itself as a prominent player in payments.

Investors King understands that last year November, the African cross-border payment app announced that it would acquire Zambian fintech company Zoona in a bid to expand into the Southern African country. This acquisition will allow Chipper Cash, which has a self-reported user count of 5 million, to add new online services and a new agent network to its offerings.