The pan-African fintech startup Chipper Cash has raised $100 million in a Series C round.
The latest raise follows a $30-million Series B round.
The three-year-old startup, which facilitates cross-border payments across Africa, was founded by Ugandan entrepreneur Ham Serunjogi and his Ghanaian partner Maijid Moujaled in 2018. With the latest round, Chipper Cash plans to introduce more products and expand its team.
Chipper Cash offers mobile-based, fee-less, peer-to-peer payment services in seven African countries, including Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa and Kenya.
However, the startup has also recently broken into the European market.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Serunjogi, Chipper Cash’s CEO, said: “We’ve expanded to the UK. It’s the first market we’ve expanded to outside Africa.”
The Series C round was led by SVB Capital, the investment arm of Silicon Valley Bank. Participating investors included Deciens Capital, One Way Ventures, Ribbit Capital, 500 Startups, Bezos Expeditions, Tribe Capital and Brue2 Ventures. The latest round makes Chipper Cash Africa’s latest unicorn after Flutterwave, Interswitch and Jumia.
Some Series-C-round investors had earlier put financing into the company. Deciens Capital participated in Chipper Cash’s $13.8-million Series A round in June 2020. Ribbit Capital and Bezos Expeditions led its $30-million Series B round in November 2020. The three rounds total $143.8 million, all raised in one year.
Chipper Cash first raised $8.4 million in two seed rounds in 2019. If added to the $143.8 million noted above, the total financing secured by the company amounts to $152.2 million.
TechCrunch reported that the company plans to increase its workforce from 200 to 300 people by the year’s end. Chipper Cash’s user base has grown to 4 million since last year.
