Moniepoint, a Nigerian-based fintech startup, has attained unicorn status after raising $110 million at over $1 billion valuation, according to the Financial Times.
The company now joined a small club of unicorns with members like MNT-Halan, Interswitch, Flutterwave, Chipper, OPay, and Wave.
The funding round also included a secondary sale with a discounted valuation, which was ideal for many investors.
The funding round led by the London-based private equity firm, Development Partners International, was supported by Google’s Africa Investment Fund.
According to Moniepoint, which had previously raised $55 million from investors, the new fund will be used to further its expansion.
Moniepoint and other peer-to-peer payment platforms experienced rapid growth in recent years following the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enforce its cashless policy in order to reduce cash transactions and encourage digital transactions.
This development saw many businesses and individuals open accounts with fintech companies, especially in regions without banks, and an increase in Point of Sales (PoS) agents.
Chief executive of Moniepoint, Mr. Tosin Eniolorunda said the company planned to use the funds to expand into other countries in Africa including Kenya.
He also noted that the company will continue to invest in Nigeria, where it is headquartered.
“The opportunities that exist in Nigeria also exist in multiple countries,” Mr Eniolorunda told the Financial Times.
“They are at different scales and levels of development; some countries are 10 to 15 years behind Nigeria and very few are ahead. We are looking at options in our toolkit and finding which ones would be the best to launch into a country and that’s the work we’re doing right now.”
In 2023 alone, Moniepoint reportedly processed $150 billion in transaction value across 5 billion transactions as its transaction value rose by 205 percent.