The news:
- NALA, a Tanzania-born remittance startup scaling its offerings to add a new B2B payments platform, has raised $40 million equity in a landmark deal that TechCrunch ranked among Africa’s largest Series A rounds.
- Benjamin Fernandes, founder and CEO of NALA, stated that the new investment, which comes after a $10 million seed in 2022, will go towards the company’s growth plans, primarily building Rafiki, its new B2B payment platform.
- Acrew Capital, a San Francisco-based venture capital (VC) firm, led the oversubscribed Series A round with participation from DST Global, Norrsken22, and HOF Capital.
Existing investors, including Amplo and NYCA Partners, and several angel investors, such as fintech founders — Chime’s Ryan King and Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev of Robinhood — also invested.
Currently, via its consumer app, NALA enables customers in the European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) to send money across 249 banks and 26 mobile money services in 11 African markets, including Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda.
In Kenya, for instance, NALA has partnered with mobile money services like M-PESA to enable remitters to pay bills directly into local mobile wallets from abroad.
According to Fernandes, NALA’s decision to add payment options was necessitated by user requests to have more control of their money.
The fintech startup is pushing Rafiki, its new B2B payments platform that launched in March 2024, to serve global businesses making payments into and out of Africa.
On the fresh capital, Fernades noted that the investment will equip NALA to transcend remittances, extending its reach beyond Africa and building a robust payments ecosystem.
“We’re reinvesting this money to enhance our infrastructure, ensuring reliable, low-cost payments for all. With the launch of our own payment rails and the expansion of our B2B platform Rafiki, we’re not just talking about change, we’re building it,” said Fernandes.
NALA launched in 2017 with plans to provide local money transfers in Tanzania. But in 2021, however, the fintech company pivoted to enable foreign remittances.
The startup, which said it has already attained profitability, noted that its consumer business currently accounts for over 90% of its revenues currently and it's on the path to surpass 500,000 customers.
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The fintech said Rafiki is also growing its client base, with early users including TransferGo, a UK-based fintech that uses Rafiki for Africa payouts.In March 2023, NALA announced that it obtained a licence to offer payment systems from the Bank of Tanzania, opening the fintech up to direct integration with banks and mobile money providers like M-PESA.
