Grace Ashiru
According to WeeTracker report, Nigeria-based business banking startup Moniepoint is poised to acquire Rwandan neobank Payday in a cash-plus-equity transaction valued at less than $40 million.
The deal seems to have been agreed to in principle at the end of Payday’s $3 million seed round, which was oversubscribed and included new and old backers worldwide.
Details are still being worked out, but the deal should be done by the end of the second quarter of 2023.
Since it began, backers like Ingressive Capital Fund II, Techstars, and HoaQ have given Payday more than $5 million. Payday’s founder and CEO, Favour Ori, reportedly refused to comment on the acquisition or on whether the company had turned down a similar offer from an African unicorn.
The acquisition of Payday by Moniepoint boosts Africa’s tech landscape at a time when financing has slowed and talk of returns has emerged. The transaction also indicates increased local capital involvement in African technology recently.
