Ivory Coast-based fintech startup Julaya has raised US$550,000 in funding from French angel investors to grow its operations in the country.
Founded by Mathias Léopoldie and Charles Talbot in March 2018, Julaya provides small merchants and SMEs with access to digital financial services.
“We provide value to businesses with access to various digital financial transactions such as mobile money transfers, airtime top-up, and wire transfers to any banks,” said Talbot.
“The informal sector and SMEs are looking to improve their operations with safer and faster transactions.”
To speed its growth and expand operations, Julaya has now raised US$550,000 from French business angels who have had previous success in the fintech space. Léopoldie said securing funding in Francophone Africa is challenging, but that the startup was “privileged” to have support from experienced angels and partnerships with local and pan-African payments startups.
“What is bringing success to fintech in Europe and is happening in Africa is the collaboration between startups with vertical synergies, from payments to wallets. Digital transactions are hard to start with because you need a lot of transactions volume to reach profitability, yet high volumes require important security expenditures against fraud and money laundering, he said.
