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Key Points
- Moniepoint’s Tosin Eniolorunda sees an opportunity for African fintechs to help 13 million unbanked Europeans access financial services.
- Moniepoint hit a $1 billion valuation after raising $110 million and expanding into Kenya, strengthening its position in Africa’s fintech sector.
- A strategic investment from Visa aims to enhance digital payments for SMEs, leveraging Moniepoint’s innovation and Visa’s global network.
More than three months after his financial software company, Moniepoint Inc., hit a $1 billion valuation following a $110 million Series C raise, Nigerian fintech founder, Tosin Eniolorunda sees an opportunity beyond Africa. With 13 million adults in Europe still unbanked, he believes African fintechs can help bridge the gap.
In a recent interview, Eniolorunda, who started his career as a software engineer at Interswitch—one of Nigeria’s leading payment companies founded by Mitchell Elegbe—spoke about the role African fintechs can play in tackling financial exclusion globally.
African fintechs eye global expansion opportunities
“A surprising statistic is that over 13 million European adults still do not have a bank account,” Eniolorunda said. “This includes 30 percent of Romanians. In Hungary and Bulgaria, the figures range across 12 percent-16 percent. Financial exclusion is not limited to Africa; it is a problem in the developed world too. Servicing these potential customers is an opportunity for African fintechs. By creating new international divisions or partnering with existing overseas institutions – they can provide expertise and products to underbanked populations.”
He added that African fintechs, having already helped millions gain financial access across the continent, are in a strong position to do the same in developed markets. “In developed markets, African fintechs could leverage their knowledge to pitch to unbanked customers. They know how to overcome customer resistance or scepticism; and appreciate the value in helping sole traders grow into small businesses – especially as economies move cashless. These and other insights are valuable and could assist established Western market players reach underserved customers faster, with less risk and expense. For governments, the regulatory experiences of African fintechs could help shape practical ‘what works’ regimes that don’t stifle growth or deny effective services to customers.”
Moniepoint’s billion-dollar rise in fintech
Tosin Eniolorunda’s remarks come just weeks after Moniepoint secured a strategic investment from Visa Inc., kicking off a partnership that could reshape Africa’s digital payments landscape. Their goal is to address the financial challenges faced by millions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the continent.
Under Eniolorunda, Moniepoint has become a major player in Nigeria’s fintech sector, equipping business owners with the tools they need to grow. Its platform now supports over 600,000 businesses, making it the country’s largest business payments network. In 2023, it expanded beyond Nigeria, acquiring Kenyan fintech Kopo Kopo and leading a $3 million investment in Payday, a startup that provides Africans with global accounts in USD, EUR, and GBP.
With more than 1 billion transactions processed every month and a total payment volume exceeding $22 billion, Moniepoint has cemented its position in Nigeria’s fintech space. Its partnership with Visa adds another layer of strength, blending Moniepoint’s innovation with Visa’s global network to improve financial access for SMEs that have long been underserved.
Visa’s backing builds on Moniepoint’s rapid growth, which reached a new milestone in October 2024 when the company raised $110 million in its Series C funding round. The investment, which attracted heavyweights like Google, pushed Moniepoint’s valuation past $1 billion, further solidifying its place as a rising force in Africa’s financial sector.
