Nigerian investment platform Risevest has acquired Nigerian fintech company, Chaka in an undisclosed acquisition deal.
Per TechCabal, there had been months of conversation between both companies until the acquisition deal was finalised on Tuesday, September 26, 2023. The founders — Tosin Osinbodu of Chaka and Eke Urum of Risevest — revealed that only Chaka's cap table will be updated while it continues to function as a separate company.
Both companies are investment-tech platforms that allow Nigerians to invest in assets and securities within and outside the country.
Osinbodu founded the company in 2019 to ease the difficulty Nigerians face in investing in global and local companies. The startup raised $1.5 million pre-seed in 2021 with plans of expanding to other West African countries.
That same year it became the first company in Nigeria to get the first digital stock trading license that allowed it to work with multiple stockbrokers.
However, it faced some resistance from the Nigeria Securities Exchange Commission in 2020 before it secured the licence. The SEC prevented the company from selling or advertising stocks.
Similarly, Risevest was launched in 2019 to connect Nigerians with dollar-denominated investment. The company says it has over 200 thousand Nigerians investing on the platform, which had a 30.19% stock portfolio in 2021.
Pleased with the deal, both founders shared that their investors were on board with the acquisition.
