Denis Opudo
Launched in May 2015, CoinAfrique has been a big player in the African French colonies. This came after it established itself as an outstanding advertisement platform. The startup says that they are the most downloaded app in African French colonies. Furthermore, they are targeting to have more than 10 million users per month by 2022. According to the founders Eric Genetre and Matthias Papet, the startup’s success in raising funds is an indication of its location in a booming market. That will allow the startup to increase its operations in the existing markets.
With the continuous service to new countries and continuous development of better user experience, the startup will exceed their target figures by 2022. The web-based platform and mobile app connect online buyers and sellers in more than 16 countries in Africa. The Senegal based startup also connects buyers and sellers in five African satellite offices. Their main aim is to link buyers and sellers at a high speed via call options private chats lines and SMS. This is all made possible via easy searches in specific places or around the users.
The mobile market platform has managed to register over 500,000 downloads on the Google play store since the launch. This is a clear sign of how Africans have taken it and its ability to attract investors. The startup just concluded its Series A round of funding where it got $3 million. This tarnishes their first ever seed investment of $185k. It was also a joint venture that was led by a group of investors. The groups of investors were represented by Mercure International and French Partners.
Jean-Michel Severino, the Head of Investisseurs and Patenaires praised CoinAfrique on its ability to grow. He said that the startup is in a better position to grow, more so in West Africa French colonies. The startup offers much of its services based on the new technologies. This suits the needs of the young population.
CoinAfrique’s Head of Product Martial Konvi predicted that the startup will reach its 2022 goal by getting the 10% of 100 million French-Speaking people. The group is expected to be the most users of smartphones within the next two years.
