Global payments leader Visa has made a strategic investment in Moniepoint, a Nigerian fintech unicorn, as part of its commitment to advancing digital payments and financial inclusion in Africa. This comes just three months after Moniepoint raised $110 million in a Series C funding round, tripling its valuation to over $1 billion.
Founded in 2015, Moniepoint provides banking and payment services tailored to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and retail customers. With over 300,000 point-of-sale (POS) agents, Moniepoint dominates Nigeria’s agent banking sector, processing an impressive 5.2 billion transactions in 2023.
Visa’s investment is expected to accelerate Moniepoint’s mission to empower African businesses with digital tools and financial services. “Visa’s backing is a strong endorsement of our vision to digitize and support African businesses at scale,” said Tosin Eniolorunda, Founder and Group CEO of Moniepoint. “We aim to deepen financial inclusion, enabling SMEs to access the tools and resources they need to thrive in an increasingly digital economy.”
Andrew Torre, Regional President for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Visa, praised Moniepoint’s impact on Africa’s SME ecosystem. “Moniepoint has built an impressive platform that directly addresses the needs of Africa’s SMEs, a critical segment in enabling economic development. By making financial services and digital payments more accessible and efficient, Moniepoint is helping transform how businesses operate in Nigeria and beyond,” he said.
This investment extends Visa’s growing footprint in Nigeria’s fintech space. Visa is now a stakeholder in all three of the country’s fintech unicorns: Interswitch, Flutterwave, and Moniepoint. Visa first entered the Nigerian market in 2019 by acquiring a minority stake in Interswitch, followed by its participation in Flutterwave’s $35 million Series B round in 2020. The company also participated in the Series A funding round of Paystack, the Nigerian fintech acquired by Stripe in 2020.
Moniepoint’s robust agent network and innovative approach position it as a key player in the digitization of Africa’s economy. With Visa’s resources and global expertise, the company is poised to scale its operations further, unlocking new growth opportunities for SMEs across the continent.
