Nigerian gig Economy Fintech, ImaliPay Secures $3m Seed Round

ImaliPay, a $3 million seed fundraising round has been finalized for a Pan-African fintech start-up that focuses on boosting the gig economy through its one-stop-shop financial services platform. ImaliPay was founded in late 2020 in Nigeria after Tatenda Furusa (Co-founder) noticed problems with e-ride hailing drivers’ access to working capital and emergency savings in Nairobi.

Upon further examination, it was discovered that there was a larger issue of gig workers being underbanked and neglected by traditional banking institutions, a gap that ImaliPay currently fills.

ImaliPay’s seed round includes Leonnis Investments (Oxygen Bank investors), Uncovered Fund, MyAsia VC led by Super Angel, Sajid Rahman, Japanese Football Legend, Keisuke Honda of KSK Angels, Jedar Capital, Plug N Play Ventures, Untapped Global, Latam Ventures, Cliff Angels, Chandaria Capital, and Changecom, as well as other angels from Serb.

ImaliPay has raised a total of $3 million in debt and equity, with $800,000 from a pre-seed round preceding it.

“Fueling disruptive start-ups and building ecosystems is the heartbeat of our investment model at Ten13,” says Stew Glynn, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Ten13. “We’re excited to follow on and be part of ImaliPay’s journey as they re-shape the future of financial services for the African gig economy.”

ImaliPay provides financial services to gig economy employees and platforms through a single channel, such as API and APP, in order to power their gigs and establish a safety net around their work. Buy Now Pay Later, Insurance (Health and Income Protection Loss), and Savings are some of the customized financial services available.

The funding round brings to a close an eventful year for the fintech startup and its co-founders Oluwasanmi Akinmusire (Co-founder and COO) and Tatenda Furusa (Co-founder and CEO), who met while working at Cellulant and received funding from Google Black Founders Fund in October before closing this seed round with reputable VCs and Angels.

With over 200k transactions, a 60X increase in user base, and 4,500 vendor points, they’ve gained a lot of traction.

“The impact we want to make in encouraging financial stability in the gig economy, servicing the underbanked, and taking them through a customized journey of financial inclusion is firmly anchored in our passion to launch and keep ImaliPay rising.” “Having strong partners and investors at the table demonstrates our commitment to providing critical services for the future of work,” says Tatenda Furusa.

Bolt, Glovo, SWVL, Amitruck, Safeboda, Gokada, and Max.ng are just a few of ImaliPay’s significant partners. They also work with open banking alliances including Stitch, Mono, and PngMe, as well as some of Africa’s largest licensed payment providers like Flutterwave, Paystack, and Cellulant. Smile Identity is used for KYC as well. Lami, Britam, Sanlam, Mycover clever, Cowrywise, Cornerstone, Ola Energy, Total Energies, Ti-Auto Corporation, and HiFI Corporation are some of the merchant partners in the ImaliPay ecosystem.

“Our seed financing will be used to hire important personnel, improve technology, and expand into new markets,” says Oluwasanmi Akinmusire (Co-founder).