Payday, a neobank that provides Africans with global (USD, EUR, and GBP) accounts, has raised $3 million in a seed round to fund its expansion into Europe, North America, and the rest of Africa.
Moniepoint Inc led the seed round, which included HoaQ, DFS Lab’s Stellar Africa Fund, Ingressive Capital Fund II, and angel investors Dare Okoudjou, Founder and CEO of MFS Africa, and Tola Onayemi, CEO of Norebase. They join existing backers Techstars, Angels Touch, Ingressive Capital, and Now Venture Partners. Ethos VC, MAGIC Fund, Ventures Platform, Voltron Capital, and others are among the existing investors.
According to the company, the new capital will be used to secure operational licensing in the United Kingdom and Canada, as well as to expand operations in the United Kingdom, where the company was recently incorporated. The funding will also be used to increase talent acquisition as the startup’s team grows from 35 to 50 employees, as Payday looks to fuel the future of work through borderless payment options in major currencies.
The round also sees the addition of Elijah Kingson, Payday’s current CPO, who previously led product design for Premium and subscription products at British-Lithuanian neobank Revolut. The company’s current COO, Yvonne Obike, has also joined the Co-Founding team. Her work with Nigeria’s Bank of Industry saw her championing MSME growth, societal rehabilitation, economic recovery, and development to local, national, and international stakeholders. Sean Udeke, a former Goldman Sachs and Expedia Product Manager, has also joined the team as Head of Products.
Payday, the first Rwandan company to join Techstars, was launched in June 2021 by Favour Ori to support African remote workers, freelancers, and digital professionals with frictionless, borderless payments, enabling global payment processing from over 130 countries. The startup allows people on the continent and in the diaspora to send and receive money in USD, GBP, Euros, and 20 other currencies, allowing Africans to work remotely for international organizations and be paid and withdraw money in their preferred currency regardless of location.
Payday, which is currently operating in Nigeria, Rwanda, and the United Kingdom, provides its 330,000+ users with virtual Visa and Mastercards that can be quickly generated using the Payday App. Payday processes several millions in USD per day as a result of its growing user base, onboarding 100,000+ new users per month and processing an average of 40,000 transactions per day. Payday became a payment partner for Starlink, which is operated by SpaceX, in February 2023, allowing Nigerian and Rwandan citizens to purchase Starlink routers seamlessly.
“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,” said Favour Ori, CEO and Founder of Payday. This investment marks a significant milestone for our company, and we are grateful for the trust and commitment shown by our existing and new investors. We’re excited to expand our platform and reach more Africans, not just on the continent, but globally. Our passion for providing convenient and secure payment solutions to individuals and businesses is palpable, and we believe that this funding will allow us to do so on a larger scale.”
“Our goal remains the same: to make it simple and easy for anyone on the continent to access their payments, and with this new funding, we are one step closer to achieving that vision,” Ori concluded.
With the company’s user base growing by 100,000+ per month, the evolution of Payday and its services was unavoidable, and Payday 3.0 was released in January of this year.
At the moment, an estimated 80 million African citizens work from home. Payday’s global payment processing capabilities make it a valuable tool for the continent’s growing digital nomad population, which wants to make and accept payments from all over the world.
Payday’s total investment to date is $5.1 million, following a $2 million+ pre-seed round in 2021.
