NALA raises $40M to improve payments in Africa and beyond

UK fintech company NALA has raised $40 million in Series A funding to support its global expansion and enhance the reliability of payments to Africa by developing its payment rails. This is NALA’s second round of fundraising in 20 months, having raised $10 million in 2022, bringing the company’s funding to over $50 million.

NALA is on a mission to build payments for the Next Billion, laying the payment rails to improve payments into the African continent. By building community-powered financial solutions, NALA makes it easier to handle day-to-day payments and conduct business in an increasingly global Africa.

The NALA consumer money transfer app enables users to make secure and reliable payments from Europe, the UK, and the US to 11 African countries in seconds.  

Rafiki, its B2B platform allows lightning-fast payments to individuals and businesses globally on the African continent.

Over the last 12 months the company achieved a 10x increase in revenue, reached profitability, and had positive cash flow. In the past 20 months, NALA saw a 34x increase in transaction volume. The NALA team has grown from just seven members to a robust team of over 100 and today serves 500,000 customers.

The $40 million funding round was led by Lauren Kolodny of Acrew Capital, with participation from previous investors DST Global, and Amplo, New investors participating include Norrsken22, HOF Capital and fintech founders including Ryan King, co-founder of Chime, Vlad Tenev, the co-founder of Robinhood and the founder of Klarna.

The new funding will accelerate NALA's global ambitions focusing on two things: first, NALA consumer business expanding beyond Africa, building services for the global migrant diaspora. 

Benjamin Fernandes, founder and CEO of NALA, said:

“This $40 million funding round marks a pivotal moment for NALA. It will enable us to go beyond remittances and extend our reach beyond Africa, building a robust payments ecosystem. 

We're reinvesting this money to enhance our infrastructure, ensuring reliable, low-cost payments for all. 

With the launch of our own payment rails and the expansion of our B2B platform Rafiki, we're not just talking about change – we're building it. We’ve got some bold, ambitious plans, give us a couple of years."

Lead image: NALA. Photo: uncredited.