Payday raises $3m in seed round to boost expansion, talent acquisition

By Business A.M. 

Payday,a leading Pan-African neobank issuing global  accounts to Africans, has announced a $3 million fund which will be deployed to expand its services to a wider audience and boost talent acquisition.

The seed round was led by Moniepoint Inc, with participation from HoaQ, DFS Lab’s Stellar Africa Fund, Ingressive Capital Fund II and angel investors including; Dare Okoudjou, ounder and CEO of MFS Africa and Tola Onayemi,CEO of Norabase. They join follow-on investors Techstars, Angels Touch, Ingressive Capital & Now Venture Partners. Along with existing investors,Ethos VC, MAGIC Fund, Ventures Platform, Voltron Capital, and others.

The multi-million dollar funding brings Payday’s total investment to date to $5.1 million, following a $2m+ pre-seed round in 2021.

Payday, in a statement, said the new capital raised will be deployed to secure operational licensing in the United Kingdom and Canada, while building out operations in the United Kingdom, where the company has recently been incorporated.

Funding will also be used to boost talent acquisition as the startup’s team complement expands from 35 to 50 employees, as Payday looks to further fuel the future of work through borderless payment alternatives in major currencies.

Launched in June 2021 by Favour Ori, Payday, the first Rwandan company in history to join Techstars, was developed to support African remote workers, freelancers and digital professionals with frictionless, borderless payments, enabling global payment processing from over 130 countries. The startup permits those on the continent and in the diaspora, to send and receive money in USD, GBP, Euros and 20 other currencies, allowing Africans to work remotely for international organisations, and be paid and withdraw money in the currency of their choice regardless of location.

Commenting on the fundraise, Favour Ori, CEO and Founder of Payday said the round of funding will lay the foundation for the continued growth of the company’s platform as it expands its services to a wider audience.

In his words: “We’re amped to scale our platform and reach more Africans, not only on the continent, but around the world. Our passion for empowering individuals and businesses with convenient and secure payment solutions is tangible, and we believe that this funding will allow us to do so on an even greater scale”.

“Our goal remains the same: to make it easy and accessible for anyone to access their payments when on the continent, and with this new funding, we are one step closer to achieving that vision.”