Digital payment firm MFS Africa has raised $100-million through an equity and debt financing round, which marks another milestone in the company's expansion, following a series of acquisitions and investments in other African financial technology (fintech) companies, including the recently announced acquisition of Baxi, in Nigeria.
MFS Africa’s vision is to make borders matter less, which it enables through interoperability across payments schemes, borders and currencies. Over the past year, MFS Africa has accelerated its expansion efforts across Africa, the company says.
The company has opened new offices in Abidjan, Kampala, Kinshasa, Nairobi and Lagos, in addition to establishing London as its new headquarters. MFS Africa recently signed an agreement to acquire Baxi, a super-agent in Nigeria, and plans to build Baxi into a key node to allow regional payments into and from Nigeria.
"MFS Africa is continuing to expand its network and will be opening additional regional offices in key African markets, as well as in the US and China. The new funding will enable MFS Africa to hire additional talent in Africa and globally to support its exponential growth," the company says.
Part of the new funding has been earmarked to continue strengthening the company’s governance, risks and compliance (GRC) functions, as well as its treasury and liquidity pool.
MFS Africa will continue to invest in fintechs across the African payment ecosystem, MFS Africa founder and CEO Dare Okoudjou notes.
“This round of funding marks the beginning of the next phase in our growth. We greatly appreciate the renewed and continued confidence in us by our longstanding investors LUN Partners, Goodwell Investments, ShoreCap III and others. We are also delighted to welcome our new investors AfricInvest, CommerzVentures, Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest on board.
“This new fundraising round further demonstrates our commitment and the scale of our ambitions. For our clients across Africa and beyond, this is also a validation of the choice they have made to partner with us in building a network of networks that make instant cross-border payments as simple as making a phone call. We look forward to continuing to work with them to expand and deepen that network in the years to come,” he adds.