Nigeria-based Fintech startup, FairMoney, has raised US$42m in Series B funding round.
The startup, which aims to give under-banked people access to digital financial services, said it would use the funds to push it expansion into other emerging markets.
The Series B round was led by Tiger Global Management, with participations from existing investors like DST, Flourish Ventures, Newfund, and Speedinvest.
FairMoney, which was founded in 2017 by Laurin Hainy, Nico Berthozat and Matthieu Gendreau, is using loans as a launching pad for its future bank accounts.
FairMoney uses its artificial intelligence (AI)-based platform to disburse loans to users in seconds, without any human intervention.
FairMoney says it has close to 1.5 million users across Nigeria and India. The company hopes to keep the same fast growth pace with its automated loan disbursement process.
With the new funds, FairMoney, which launched its services in India last year, plans to expand its services to further underline its position as a digital challenger bank for emerging markets.
The company plans to hire top global talent and accelerate customer acquisition in current and new markets, as well as focusing on developing a suite of innovative digital banking services.
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Speaking on FairMoney’s future, co-founder, Laurin Hainy said:
“We are incredibly excited by the opportunities ahead for FairMoney as we enable more underbanked consumers in emerging markets to access digital financial services. Our vision is to build the financial home for our users and this new round of funding will allow us to go deeper into our core markets. With this funding, we are well equipped to tap into the global talent pool for more A-players with a growth mindset, and who are hungry to build more impactful, customised and mobile-first financial products designed for emerging markets.”
Scott Shleifer, a partner at Tiger Global, also commented thus:
“We are excited to partner with FairMoney as they build a better financial hub for customers in Nigeria and India. We were impressed by the team and the strong growth to date, and look forward to supporting FairMoney as they continue to scale.”