The Rwanda-based Payday, a leading pan-African neobank issuing global accounts to Africans, has announced a US$3 million seed round to power its expansion into Europe and North America.
Launched in June 2021 by Favour Ori, Payday was developed to support African remote workers, freelancers and digital professionals with frictionless, borderless payments, enabling global payment processing from over 130 countries.
The startup allows users to send and receive money in USD, GBP, Euros and 20 other currencies, allowing Africans to work remotely for international organisations, and be paid and withdraw money in the currency of their choice regardless of location. Currently operational in Nigeria, Rwanda and the UK, Payday offers its more than 330,000 users virtual Visa and Mastercards, which can quickly be generated using the Payday app.
Payday was the first Rwandan company in history to join Techstars, and is onboarding over 100,000 new users a month and processing an average of 40,000 transactions per day. It is now set for further expansion after securing a US$3 million seed round of funding, which was led by Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt) with participation from HoaQ, DFS Lab’s Stellar Africa Fund, and angel investors such as Dare Okoudjou and Tola Onayemi.
They join follow-on investors Techstars, Angels Touch, Ingressive Capital and Now Venture Partners. Payday, which also raised a US$2 million pre-seed round in 2021, also counts the likes of Ethos VC, MAGIC Fund, Ventures Platform and Voltron Capital among its investors.
The oversubscribed round will be deployed to secure operational licensing in the United Kingdom and Canada, while building out operations in the United Kingdom, where the company has recently been incorporated.
Funding will also be used to boost talent acquisition as the startup’s team complement expands from 35 to 50 employees, as Payday looks to further fuel the future of work through borderless payment alternatives in major currencies. The round also sees the expansion of the co-founding team with the addition of Elijah Kingson, Payday’s current CPO, and Yvonne Obike, the company’s current COO.
“We’re thrilled that this round of funding will lay the foundation for the continued growth of our platform as we expand our services to a wider audience. This investment represents a significant milestone for our company and we are grateful for the trust and commitment shown by our investors both existing and new,” Ori said.
“We’re amped to scale our platform and reach more Africans, not only on the continent, but around the world. Our passion for empowering individuals and businesses with convenient and secure payment solutions is tangible, and we believe that this funding will allow us to do so on an even greater scale.”
Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO of Moniepoint, said his company was excited about the unique things Ori and the Payday team are doing.
“Personally, I connect deeply with his drive, technical depth, and desire to execute. The urge to encourage that fire inspired us to want to be a part of this,” he said.
“More important is the alignment in our goal to provide financial happiness by addressing key payment pain points – Moniepoint with merchants and Payday with individuals. We see a potential to leverage their infrastructure to further deepen our suite of financial services for merchants, and we’re looking forward to all that’s to come.”
