Cowrywise, a Nigerian fintech startup, has announced that it has secured a Fund/Portfolio Management License from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
What this means is that the startup founded by Razaq Ahmed and Edward Popoola in 2017 can now operate with the full backing of the law. It recently raised $3 million in pre-Series A funding led by Quona Capital.
Cowrywise is building a savings and investment culture among the growing population of underserved African middle class and millennials.
For the startup, the “license does more than approve our existing framework. It empowers us to do more for both investors and providers in the space. Asides from investors getting further reassurance that they are on the right side of money, we will be building more immersive experiences for them.
“On the fund managers’ side, we will not just broaden their reach to first-time investors, we will deepen our partnerships with many more.”
In addition to securing the license, Cowrywise also announced that “It will make its APIs public to help fund managers across the world access our services and open up more investment options to serve our customers in Nigeria better.”
On its achievement so far, the startup said that over 300,000 people now use the platform, 21 of Nigeria’s mutual funds are live for users and it pioneered the protection framework for customers of fintech (focused on wealth management) in Nigeria.
In terns of future plans, Cowrywise plans to introduce 10 million first-time investors to regulated investments by 2025 Razaq Ahmed adds.
