Nigeria’s Flex Finance raises pre-seed funding to help it expand

Flex Finance, a mobile ecosystem that helps MSMEs and solo entrepreneurs better manage and track their daily business expenses and finances, is a Nigerian fintech startup that has raised a six-figure US dollar pre-seed funding round to support its growth.

Flex enables businesses to digitize their day-to-day operations through a simple, user-friendly mobile platform. The app has an easy-to-use user interface and requires little to no financial knowledge to operate. The company, which was founded in September 2019, aims to assist MSMEs in becoming smarter and more profitable.

Gumroad CEO Sahil Lavingia, LoftyInc Capital Management, Berrywood Capital, Paradox Capital, Kairos Angels, Brett Kopf, Julian Shapiro, Maneesh Arora, and others recently led a six-figure pre-seed funding round for the startup. Flex previously received undiluted funding of US$200,000 from Accion Venture Lab, The MasterCard Foundation, and Catalyst Fund.

Flex’s automated spend management platform was officially launched in March, and it has since onboarded hundreds of businesses. On a monthly basis, it processes millions of dollars in spending.

“The goal is to free business owners and finance teams in Africa from the stress of spend management,” said Yemi Olulana, the startup’s CEO. “We believe that making this crucial aspect of business delightfully simple can save businesses lots of money and time, inadvertently helping them grow and succeed and thus increasing their creditworthiness.”

“This funding has already helped to expand the company’s manpower, scale operations, and will aid in the launch of our new product offerings such as virtual cards.”