The Nigerian B2B fintech TeamApt has raised an undisclosed funding round led by U.S. VC QED Investors and Novastar Ventures, a UK venture firm that focuses on Africa. Also joining the round were Lightrock and BII.
The amount of the round was widely reported to be $50 million, which would bring TeamApt’s estimated funding to date to $85.5 million (per Crunchbase). However, Team Apt disputed the figure in its blog post announcing the round.
“This figure was not supplied by TeamApt or QED, and is inaccurate. As with our previous rounds, we prefer not to disclose the specific amount raised,” the company said in the post.
TeamApt was founded in 2015 by Tosin Eniolorunda “with the vision to digitize Africa's economy", according to its website.
Having QED’s backing is a significant step for TeamApt. QED is among the world’s leading fintech-focused venture firms, with some $5 billion in assets under management (per Finextra). The firm’s portfolio includes 180 companies with names like Klarna, Credit Karma, SoFi, Rain, and others. TeamApt is QED’s first African investment.
TeamApt builds financial platforms that provide businesses with payment, banking, credit, and business management tools to help them operate successfully.
The company has two main products. Moniepoint provides “banking solutions that enable businesses to collect payments, access loans, manage operations and ultimately grow their business”. And Monnify, which is a payment gateway allowing businesses to accept payments from their customers, either one-time or recurring.
There is no current information on TeamApt’s valuation. The company reports having 400,000 business customers and handles $100 billion in annual transaction value.
CEO Eniolorunda says the company will use the new funds in part to fuel its expansion beyond Nigeria. It also sees QED as more than just a font of growth capital.
“As core fintech operators, QED is bringing the fintech expertise we need to scale in Nigeria and as we plan to expand our offering across Africa. With QED’s operator expertise and TeamApt’s excellent execution team, TeamApt will continue digitising Africa’s economy, enabling the growth of businesses,” Eniolorunda said.
QED says about what you would expect an investor to say, praising TeamApt’s steady growth.
“I could not think of a better way to enter the continent than with our investment in TeamApt. Tosin and his team have steadily built an impressive payment and distribution network across Nigeria over the past five years,” said QED Investors Partner and Head of Africa Gbenga Ajayi. “Their strong and positive unit economics, coupled with a deep customer focus, will enable them to continue to build out an even more expansive network.”
Whatever the amount raised (it may well be close to $50 million), bringing a top fintech VC like QED onto the continent for the first time is a significant step for B2B tech in Africa.
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