Kenya-based remittance services provider Nala has raised $40m in a Series A funding round for expanding its consumer business beyond Africa.
Led by American venture capital firm Acrew Capital, the financing round also saw the participation of HOF Capital, DST Global, and Norrsken22.
The round also involved Nala’s existing investors Amplo and NYCA Partners along with various angel investors, including Chime co-founder Ryan King and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.
Nala aims to build services for the global migrant diaspora through the new capital.
Besides, the Series A proceeds are expected to accelerate the remittance services provider’s goal of developing its business-to-business (B2B) payments platform Rafiki.
The single application programming interface (API) for global businesses will be designed to establish the payment infrastructure for the next billion users by ensuring reliability and managing treasury directly.
The platform will enhance error mapping, lower user costs, as well as optimise payouts and collections.
According to Nala, Rafiki is the backbone of the company’s consumer fintech app and B2B payments platform.
Nala founder and CEO Benjamin Fernandes said: “This funding is a testament to the hard work of our team and the trust our investors have in our vision. It marks a new chapter in our journey to revolutionise payments for the next billion.
“While raising $40m is a remarkable achievement, it is just one milestone in our long-term vision. We’ve made great progress, but the work is far from done.”
Nala is said to cater to approximately 500,000 customers across the globe.
The remittance services provider also said that its transaction volume has increased 34 times over the last 20 months. Nala secured a $10m in a seed round in 2022.
