The Ivory Coast-based Djamo, a financial super app for consumers in French-speaking Africa, has been accepted into the Silicon Valley-based accelerator Y Combinator, banking US$125,000 funding and further support.
Founded by Hassan Bourgi and Regis Bamba last year, Djamo is a financial super app that aims to democratise access to quality and affordable banking to millions of Africans living across the Francophone Africa region.
Disrupt Africa reported last week Nigerian fintech startup Mono had been accepted into the Y Combinator Winter 2021 batch, and can now confirm it is joined in that cohort by Djamo, which becomes the first startup from Ivory Coast to take part in the renowned programme. The startup will receive US$125,000 in seed funding as well as further investment opportunities at a March demo day.
“Since day one we wanted to design a mobile-first platform that can break into the masses; our combined experience building mass market consumer products is in every inch of Djamo’s app, people love the experience and talk about it to their friends and families, this is why our significant growth is coming organically through word of mouth,” said Bourgi.
Djamo launched its app and Visa card in November 2020, six months after closing a US$350,000 pre-seed investment from early-stage investors. Today, it has around 90,000 registered users and processes over 50,000 transactions monthly.
“We believe that with mobile reach, great technology and design, we can become the go-to solution for people across the region, not only for digital natives but for all people hungry of quality and affordable financial services. Down the line, we want every person in French speaking Africa with a smartphone and internet connection to become a potential customer” said Bourgi.
Y Combinator’s backing validates the fintech startup’s premise that financial services distribution across the Francophone Africa region is fundamentally changing with the advance of Internet and smartphone penetration, and is starting to switch towards apps.
