Nigeria’s fintech startup, Kuda has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Valar Ventures with participation from Target Global and other investors.
The startup offers mobile-first banking services to help Nigerians to make payments. Kuda’s services are currently only live in Nigeria and this is the first African startup that Valar has financially backed.
Kuda’s CEO Babs Ogundeyi says the company plans to use the Series A to expand its credit offerings, add more integrations to its platform, build services excessively for businesses and expand to more markets.
“Nigeria is at a tipping point in the adoption of digital banking,” Andrew McCormack, a general partner and co-founder at Valar, told TechCrunch. “With the rapidly growing, youthful population who are open to new financial alternatives, Kuda is well-positioned to benefit and will transform the landscape of African banking.”
This Series A comes after Kuda closed a $10 million seed round last November.
Unlike other fintech companies, Kuda has its own microfinance banking license issued by the central bank of Nigeria. This license allows the company to offer money management services, issue debit cards in partnership with Visa and Mastercard, manage payments and transfers and offer loans and credit.
While Kuda operates mostly digitally, Kuda has partnerships with Zenith Bank, Guaranteed Trust and Access Bank for its users who wish to make physical deposits and withdrawals.
In February, Ogundeyi said Kuda closed $2.2 billion in transactions. As the company eyes expansion, Kuda will most likely expand its services to Nigerians in the U.K. next.
