PalmPay raised $100M Series A last August, claims to have 5 million users
Africa-focused payments startup PalmPay raised a $100 million Series A round last year. TechCrunch spotted this news in Partech Africa’s latest end-of-year report on venture capital investments in Africa.
Further checks in Crunchbase and Tracxn--platforms that track funding rounds in startups and private companies globally–reveal that the company closed the round in August 2021.
PalmPay came into Nigeria’s payments scene in June 2019. Five months later, it launched with a $40 million seed round–the largest of its kind on the continent–from Chinese investors such as Chinese phone-maker Transsion via its Tecno subsidiary, NetEase and wireless communications hardware firm Mediatek.
The U.K.-headquartered startup also took money from Chinese investors for its Series A round, the second largest of its kind after unicorn Wave’s $200 million. The investors that participated in the round include China-based Chuangshi Capital, Yunshi Equity Investment Management, Trust Capital, Chengyu Capital, and private equity fund AfricaInvest.
PalmPay offers different financial services to individual consumers and merchants. It provides merchants, via its PalmPartner app, with online payment and offline POS acquiring services and plans to introduce digital marketing services soon. There’s a gamut of services for consumers that include no-fee payment options, low-cost transfers, bill payments, rewards programs, and discounted airtime.
