Cellulant passes baton to Acting CEO Akshay Grover

Nairobi-based online and mobile payments platform Cellulant has appointed Akshay Grover as its acting group CEO, effective May 2021, Technext reported.

Cellulant was previously headed by Kenyan entrepreneur Ken Njoroge, who founded the company together with his Nigerian partner Bolaji Akinboro.

With over 15 years of experience in technology, media and telecommunications in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Grover will be responsible for refining the company’s growth strategy, finance and optimizing operations across Africa.

In a statement, Njoroge said: “We are now beginning to see our unlit potential chart paths into new territories, with new products with more reach and impact. The way I see it if the inception phase as a music business was Cellulant 1.0, and the pivot to digital banking was 2.0 – we are now entering Cellulant 3.0.”

Grover’s experience spans investing in the early and growth stages, portfolio management, strategy, restructuring and capital raising.

About Cellulant

Cellulant is a leading international payments company on a mission to digitize payments for Africa’s largest economies. The tech startup was founded by Njoroge and Akinboro, as a music ringtone sharing platform to help musicians earn when users downloaded their songs.

It soon grew into a globally reputed digital payments platform, serving 13 African markets in partnership with about 28 mobile operators and 31 banks in the region.

In 2017, Njoroge said the company processed $2.7 billion in payments, TechCrunch reported. During May 2018, the platform processed 7 million transactions worth $350 million across 33 African countries.

In 2018, the startup raised $47.5 million from a consortium of investors in a Series C round led by TPG Growth’s Rise Fund. Other investors in the round included Endeavour Catalyst and Satya Capital, the private equity firm owned by Sudanese-British billionaire Mo Ibrahim.

The fund aimed to accelerate its growth and scale out its existing platform in Africa and build usage on the existing network.