By Eugene Onyeji
Africa’s Largest Digital Payments Gateway, MFS Africa, has raised US$100 million through an equity and debt financing for expansion across Africa.
The fundraising marks another milestone in MFS Africa’s expansion, following a series of acquisitions and investments in other African fintech.
Recently, MFS Africa had signed an agreement to acquire Baxi, one of Nigeria’s leading super-agent networks. The deal, which is subject to approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria, will be the second highest fintech acquisition in Nigeria to date.
Nigeria is home to one of the most dynamic markets on the continent; it is Africa’s largest economy and home to the largest number of SMEs. It is also the largest remittance market in Africa and home to one-third of intra-Africa remittance flows. MFS Africa’s presence in Nigeria to date has been limited given the country’s small number of mobile wallets. With the acquisition, MFS Africa will expand its pan-African network into Nigeria, connecting Nigerian businesses to the continent and the rest of the world.
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MFS Africa’s vision is to make borders matter less, which it enables through interoperability across payments schemes, borders and currencies. Over the last year, MFS Africa has accelerated its expansion efforts across Africa. The company has opened new offices in Abidjan, Kampala, Kinshasa, Nairobi and Lagos, in addition to establishing London as its new headquarters. MFS Africa recently signed an agreement to acquire Baxi, a leading super-agent in Nigeria, and plans to build Baxi into a key node, allowing regional payments into and from Nigeria.
MFS Africa is continuing to expand its network and will be opening additional regional offices in key African markets, as well as in the USA and China. The new funding will enable MFS Africa to hire additional talent in Africa and globally to support its exponential growth.
“This round of funding marks the beginning of the next phase in our growth. We greatly appreciate the renewed and continued confidence in us by our longstanding investors LUN Partners, Goodwell Investments, ShoreCap III and others. We are also delighted to welcome our new investors AfricInvest, CommerzVentures, Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest on board. This new fundraising round further demonstrates our commitment and the scale of our ambitions. For our clients across Africa and beyond, this is also a validation of the choice they have made to partner with us in building a network of networks that make instant cross-border payments as simple as making a phone call. We look forward to continuing to work with them to expand and deepen that network in the years to come.” said Dare Okoudjou, MFS Africa Founder and CEO.
In 2010, MFS Africa forecast that mobile money wallets would be the most dominant digital wallet in Africa. Today, its hub connects over 320 million mobile money wallets. Through its network of over 180 mobile money schemes, banks, money transfer operators, and over 250 global enterprises, millions of Africans can exchange value with each other and the world.
