MFS Africa has raised US$100mn through an equity and debt financing round, marking another milestone in the company’s expansion
The fundraising follows a series of acquisitions and investments in other African fintechs, including the recently announced acquisition of Baxi in Nigeria.
AfricInvest FIVE, the new investor, is one of the most experienced private equity investors in the continent and co-led the round with existing investors Goodwell Investments and LUN Partners Group (LUN Partners).
CommerzVentures, Allan Gray Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest also joined the round as new investors, while ShoreCap III returned as an existing investor with other funds. Providers of debt financing included Lendable and Norsad.
Over the last year, MFS Africa has accelerated its expansion efforts across Africa and has opened new offices in Abidjan, Kampala, Kinshasa, Nairobi and Lagos, in addition to establishing London as its new headquarters.
Part of the new funding has been earmarked to continue strengthening the company’s Governance, Risks and Compliance (GRC) functions as well as its treasury and liquidity pool. MFS Africa will be continuing to invest in fintechs across the African payment ecosystem.
Dare Okoudjou, founder and CEO of MFS Africa, commented, “This round of funding marks the beginning of the next phase in our growth. We greatly appreciate the renewed and continued confidence in us by our longstanding investors LUN Partners, Goodwell Investments, ShoreCap III and others. We are also delighted to welcome our new investors AfricInvest, CommerzVentures, Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest on board.
“This new fundraising round further demonstrates our commitment and the scale of our ambitions. For our clients across Africa and beyond, this is also a validation of the choice they have made to partner with us in building a network of networks that make instant cross-border payments as simple as making a phone call. We look forward to continuing to work with them to expand and deepen that network in the years to come.”
Julius Tichelaar, partner at AfricInvest FIVE, said, “MFS Africa provides broad access to a large range of payment services for individuals and companies on the African continent, including remittance and trade-related financial services. This resonates well with AfricInvest FIVE’s financial inclusion strategy. Cross-border payments remain an important challenge in many African markets today and MFS Africa is uniquely positioned to confront this. We are excited to join MFS Africa’s world-class management team on its mission and to support its growth journey.”
