CrowdForce, a Nigerian fintech agent distribution network has raised a $3.6 million pre-Series A investment to address challenges around financial services availability especially targeted at the unbanked and underbanked.
The equity and debt round was led by Aruwa Capital Management and also saw participation from HAVAÍC and AAIC.
The startup said it will use part of the capital to expand its team, geographical operations and marketing to increase its 6,000-strong active agent network three-fold this year by distributing more point of sale terminals to its partners in the next 12 to 18 months in its effort to financial services within one kilometer, or within 15 minutes, of all Nigerians.
What they are saying about the funding
While agents across Nigeria usually have to take a long walk to the bank in a bid to refinance their working capital, the startup said it is innovating a different method by partnering with larger traditional businesses such as gas stations, turning them into mobile bank branches that offer float services while storing their cash on a PayForce digital wallet.
In his comment, Oluwatomi Ayorinde said, “These stations (gas stations) collect cash from their sales of petrol daily. But now, we can leverage that liquidity, turn them to mobile ATMs that can then provide liquidity either to customers or to other mini agency banking outlets. So if you run an agent network and run out of cash, you don’t necessarily need only a bank branch. You can look for a gas station nearby and replenish cash flow.”
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Aruwa Capital founder and managing partner said, “We see significant value in the product [CrowdForce] as it is solving a real problem by providing access to critical financial services in rural areas that have been overlooked by traditional financial institutions.
CrowdForce is actively deepening financial inclusion through its products and services, and has unique competitive advantages through its proprietary technology and extensive agent distribution network across the country.”
What you should know
The company was first launched as MobileForms in 2015 by Oluwatomi Ayorinde and Damilola Ayorinde as a data collection agent network to capture and build reliable offline data as well as and provide insights on hard-to-reach rural and semi-urban areas for businesses, NGOs and development organizations.
