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Early-stage investor TLCom Capital led an $8.5 million Series A investment in Ivory Coast-based startup HUB2, which handles payments for mobile money providers in West Africa.
Joining in were Dutch development bank FMO, which had invested €2.40 million ($2.5 million) in the startup in January this year, and French public investment bank Bpifrance, which teams up with sovereign funds and other institutional investors to back small and medium-sized businesses. Enza Capital, which raised $58 million last year and launched a profit-sharing program for its early-stage startups, also participated.
‘Stripe’ for Africa.
Mobile money — a digital service that allows users to make financial transactions using their phones —has become the backbone of payments and money transfer in Africa, where almost three-quarters of such accounts globally are held.
Regulatory and technical issues create interoperability challenges. HUB2’s software acts as a “Stripe-like platform” to smooth payments between banks and digital financial services and facilitate e-commerce and ride-hailing payments.
“The one issue I wanted to solve in French-speaking Africa was creating infrastructure and unifying payments in the region,” said HUB2’s Ashley Gauzere.
The startup operates in nine countries and works with regional mobile money operators such as Orange and MTN. It’s on track to process more than $1 billion in transactions this year.
