Introduction

African remittance startup Nala has secured $40 million in one of the largest Series A funding rounds in Africa. This substantial investment is poised to support Nala's global expansion and enhance the reliability of payments to Africa by developing its payment infrastructure. This funding comes after a successful $10 million seed round in 2022.

Investors and Funding Details

The oversubscribed Series A round was led by San Francisco-based VC firm Acrew Capital. Other significant participants included DST Global, Norrsken22, HOF Capital, and existing investors such as Amplo and NYCA Partners. Additionally, notable angel investors like Ryan King of Chime and Vlad Tenev of Robinhood contributed to the funding.

Global Expansion and Rafiki Platform

The new funding will accelerate Nala’s global ambitions, particularly focusing on expanding beyond Africa and developing Rafiki, its new B2B payments platform. Rafiki aims to create robust payment rails for the next billion users, ensuring reliability, managing treasury directly, improving error mapping, reducing user costs, and streamlining payouts and collections. This platform is set to revolutionize payments in Africa, similar to how dLocal transformed payments in Latin America and AirWallex in Asia.

Expanding Services

Through the Nala consumer app, the company currently enables users in the E.U, U.K, and U.S to send money across 249 banks and 26 mobile money services in 11 African markets. Integration with mobile services like Kenya’s M-Pesa allows remitters to pay bills directly into local mobile wallets.

User-Centric Development

Nala's decision to add payment capabilities was driven by user requests for comprehensive control over their money. The fintech plans to scale these offerings to new markets, starting with Asia.

Enhancing B2B Payments

Nala is also enhancing its B2B payments platform, launched in March, to serve global businesses making payments into and out of Africa. This development is a significant step towards creating a robust payments ecosystem.

Building a Robust Ecosystem

“This $40 million funding round marks a pivotal moment for Nala,” said Fernandes, CEO of Nala. “It will enable us to go beyond remittances and extend our reach beyond Africa, building a robust payments ecosystem. We’re reinvesting this money to enhance our infrastructure, ensuring reliable, low-cost payments for all. With the launch of our own payment rails and the expansion of our B2B platform Rafiki, we’re not just talking about change, we’re building it. We’ve got some bold, ambitious plans, give us a couple of years.”

From Local Transfers to Global Remittances

Fernandes launched Nala in 2017, initially offering local money transfers in Tanzania. The company pivoted in 2021 to focus on enabling foreign remittances, marking a significant shift in its business model.