CinetPay, a digital finance platform that enables merchants in Francophone Africa to seamlessly accept and make payments, has announced a $2.4 million seed fundraising round from 4DX Ventures and Flutterwave.
The investment will boost CinetPay’s sales and marketing efforts across nine markets in West and Central Africa.
CinetPay has completed more than 30 million transactions for 350 active merchants in nine countries since its launch in Côte d’Ivoire in 2016. These countries include Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon, Mali, Togo, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Guinea.
What you should know about CinetPay
CinetPay’s platform allows businesses to process over 130 different payment operators, ranging from mobile money to credit and debit cards and e-wallets, all through a single interface, removing the need for merchants to spend months integrating with various systems in order to manage sales and revenues.
CinetPay, which is used by a wide range of organizations from e-commerce platforms to digital public services, insurance firms, and schools, makes receiving payments online or via mobile Point of Sale (PoS) devices simple and secure.
CinetPay is extending a successful commercial partnership that began in 2019, and this investment comes on the heels of Flutterwave’s recent acquisition of Disha, marking the unicorn’s first direct investment in the region.
Over the last decade, the fast expansion of a wide range of digital payment methods throughout the continent has resulted in a disaggregated market. Customers in Sub-Saharan Africa account for two-thirds of worldwide mobile money transactions, with 562 million registered accounts by the end of 2020, while the continent’s e-commerce users are predicted to double from 281 million in 2020 to 520 million by 2025.
This trend is continuing with public institutions, with more bodies now offering digital public services such as ID card, Visa, and COVID test payments, as well as school fees, which are frequently paid online. CinetPay is rapidly expanding its footprint in the region, with a growing number of payments required across several verticals from an increasing number of sources.
Available on desktop and mobile, CinetPay is quick to set up and designed with a modular approach that integrates within a merchant website and accepts Mastercard, Visa and all major local mobile money in 9 markets from MPESA to MTN mobile money and Orange Money.
What they are saying
Walter Baddoo, Co-Founder and General Partner at 4DX Ventures said, “We’ve been tracking the Francophone Africa market for some time now, and have been impressed by Cinetpay’s ambitious goal to digitize payments across the region. “The company has demonstrated deep product knowledge with a differentiated offering and a strong brand with customers. We look forward to partnering with the Cinetpay team alongside our long-time portfolio company, Flutterwave, to help usher in the next phase of digital payments across the Francophone region.”
Olugbenga Agboola, Founder and CEO at Flutterwave said, “We’re building the payments infrastructure for Africa, making it easier for businesses to grow and expand their customer base on the continent and worldwide. Having collaborated with the Cinetpay team for a number of years now, our shared vision to simplify payments on the continent further strengthens our commitments to working towards creating endless possibilities and experiences for all our customers. Cinetpay is well positioned for the next chapter of growth and we’re excited to work with the team to help scale the business to achieve maximum impact and value for its customers.”
Idriss Marcial Monthe, CEO & Co-Founder of CinetPay said, “For a first institutional investment, we couldn’t have asked for two better partners in 4DX Ventures and Flutterwave. We’ve watched firsthand as thousands of merchants waste crucial time, even up to 6 months, getting their payment systems in order. Now we’ve got the resources to market and sell our optimal solution across the region and we’re excited to ensure that all businesses in our region never miss a sale again. We have selected highly strategic partners as investors and are excited about the immediate next steps we take together in terms of simplifying and improving digital payments in Francophone Africa.”
