In this report about five fintech companies to look out for in 2022, we x-ray a booming industry on the Nigerian economic landscape.
Evidently, the Nigerian fintech space has continued to become a huge and thriving industry.
Techuncode had previously reported that the industry led other African startups to raise over $4bn funding in 2021.
Of that fund, Nigeria alone took the lead, raising $1.41 billion, the highest amount in the continent.
But why the sudden boom in Nigeria’s fintech space?
The boom in fintech in Nigeria and by extension, Africa, is partly because the tech savvy millennial generation has widely embraced mobile banking as the standard of transaction.
ALSO READ: Nigerian, Other African Startups Raise Over $4bn In 2021
Note that fintech services are flexible, seamless and agile.
However, before this boom, people have had to rely heavily on the financial services of traditional banks.
But the banks’ services rather involved rigorous processes which consumed time.
Also, the services were poor and not readily accessible in remote areas.
Even areas with internet penetration were not guaranteed banking services from the traditional banks.
Because for them, it took much more than good internet service and tech to provide these services.
They had to think of a physical and cumbersome systemic structure to service a remote village.
To make matters worse, a World Bank report said before 2018, only about 40% of adults in Nigeria had bank accounts.
This means 60% adult Nigerians were unbanked!
Meanwhile, the poor services by the banks left customers frustrated, leading to desire for better services.
Consequently, the financial technology companies emerged to close this gap.
Ever since, they are increasingly becoming the people’s best choice.
Their advent improved the banking services in Nigeria as well as promoting healthy competition.
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Furthermore, accelerating from 2020 when COVID-19 hit the world, the fintech industry witnessed humongous growth, with Nigeria having more than 250 fintech companies and the number keeps increasing.
Additionally, the rare perks of zero charges on financial transactions as well as the seamless processes involved in using the services have also made fintech attractive, including to investors.
Users increasingly continue to adopt fintech services for many reasons which include promotion of a thrift or savings culture that helps youths save.
Also, Fintechs prove to be very useful as they support financial inclusion with services that include fund transfers, credit applications, fundraising, bill payment and savings.
They also make financial transactions seamless like providing access for users to deposit cheques using mobile phones.
So, we x-ray five of these fintech companies which you should look out for in the coming year. They will help you with your financial services’ needs.
Our five fintech companies to watch out for are PennyTree, Mono, My Stash, Brass and Cashenvoy.
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PennyTree:
Out of the five fintechs, PennyTree will particularly interest you even more.
This is because the fintech platform is a one-stop shop where people can merge their lifestyle with financial well-being.
PennyTree is a savings and payment mobile application, using AI features to help users take savings culture to the next level.
The gamified digital lifestyle platform promotes savings culture in a fun way.
Co-founded by Ayo Ogunlowo and Adeleke Awotayo Ayeni, the financial company officially launched into the Nigerian fintech space with PennyTree Application available on playstore, on the 1st of December, 2021.
The trailblazing innovation comes with a smart product which the company calls Penn Rules.
Penn Rules allows users to integrate savings habits with their lifestyles, helping them save as they earn, spend and interact in the digital village.
A look at the Penn Rules’ dashboard on the PennyTree app shows that gamification and integration with digital lifestyle products such as uber, youtube and instagram are work in progress.
We are particularly looking forward to what these integrations will look like and work seamlessly.
PennyTree
During a chat with Techuncode, Co-founder and President of the fintech startup, Ayo Ogunlowo, said PennyTree has come to gamify the way people save by making it a part of their lifestyles.
According to him, “Today, savings has evolved and what we are doing at PennyTree is to make savings fun”.
He said the platform makes people’s lifestyles and finances like savings, to be mutually inclusive.
What that means is that “you don’t have to do one without the other.”
So, PennyTree helps you save even while you enjoy your life or engage in your daily routine.
The co-founder revealed that PennyTree will roll out gamification features that help people save money even from spending time on social media like Instagram and YouTube.
He said the feature helps you save money while you spend time exercising or even booking a cab.
These features when completely rolled out will definitely put PennyTree in a league of its own.
Interestingly and quite unusual for financial management apps in Nigeria, PennyTree also offers bill payment – you can buy airtime/data, pay electricity bill and renew your cable TV (DSTV, GOTV & Startimes) packages/subscriptions all on the app.
PennyTree also has a wallet system that allows users to send money with zero charges.
All the above and much more is why we said, PennyTree will particularly interest you.
So, you might want to get on board and look out for this promising fintech in 2022 to help you save for that dream house or car even as you go about your lifestyle.
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CashEnvoy
CashEnvoy is another fintech platform you should look out for.
Although the payment platform commenced operations in November 2009, it is still a fintech platform you should consider.
It is a payment service company that allows businesses receive payments online.
Cashenvoy allows businesses integrate it on their websites to help them accept payment from all the major Nigerian debit cards.
It also allows businesses receive payments from international Visa and Mastercards.
The fintech platform also has an e-wallet, CashEnvoy wallet, that you can also receive payments.
CashEnvoy was founded and owned by a limited liability company, E-Settlement Ltd. E-Settlement Ltd has its location in Lagos, Nigeria.
The company provides secure and Innovative payment solutions that are seamless, dependable and affordable.
Users with buyer accounts have no user charges while those with seller accounts don’t pay subscription fees.
Its downside is that CashEnvoy can be used only on merchant websites that accept CashEnvoy.
Also, it has a distinctive buyer and seller profile that allows only the seller account to accept payments while the buyer account cannot.
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My stash:
mystash Technologies is another savings fintech company to watch out for in 2022.
It is a fully registered and regulated cooperative savings platform.
The platform helps the African working class save money subconsciously through a save-as-you-spend or earn model.
Although the fintech company does not offer investment services, it however works strictly with secured fund managers to provide interest for customers.
With its founders: Adebowale Oparinu (CGO); Bright Williams (CTO); Christiana Okere (COO) and Onyinye Oguego (CEO), the platform equally encourages the culture of saving as you earn and spend.
According to the platform, myStash is a savings platform that operates differently from other saving platforms.
It is a Save-As-You-Spend (SAYS) platform, which means it saves a percentage of every amount of money you spend.
Information from the platform says, “Whenever you spend and money leaves your account, the myStash app will notice, and then save/stash away a percentage of that money you spent.”
“It’s like paying yourself tax every time you spend, hence the term Save-As-You-Spend.
“It is also a Save-As-You-Earn (SAYE) platform.
This means that whenever you earn money (whenever money enters your account), the myStash app notices and then stashes away (saves) a percentage of that money that entered.
Thus the name Save-As-You-Earn.”
The platform allows users save instantly by linking their banks and debit cards.
Also, users get between 5% to 9% when they leave their saved funds between three months and one year.
Meanwhile, although myStash does not charge commissions, a third party it works with, Paystack charges 1.5% of the amount stashed.
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Brass
If there is another fintech to look out for in 2022, then its Brass.
This is a financial technology company that helps boost business activities, remove inefficiencies and provide better performance and growth for African businesses.
Brass founded in 2020 with a mission to make economic prosperity more accessible by helping local businesses to grow.
The company said in a statement that it believes businesses everywhere can have access to top-end money operations.
It also believes businesses should have cashflow services to ensure they can finance their business growth with cheaper and easy-to-access financing throughout their lifetime.
According to the company, thousands of forward-thinking businesses rely on its platform everyday to turbo-charge their business financial operation.
Brass provides services such as current accounts that come with the financial products, education, financing and partnerships to run and grow your business.
Also, it provides fast financing for businesses by providing quick access to huge financial resources.
The company makes banking cheaper by helping business save money while growing.
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Mono
Our last fintech company to look out for in 2022 is Mono.
Mono is a technology company that provides seamless access to data and payments in Open Banking across Africa.
It uses open banking as a layer for financial data, identity data, and bank transfer payments for businesses.
Mono is a Nigerian API fintech startup that was founded in August 2020.
Since its launch, Mono has grown to service over 200 valued customers.
The fintech company has delivered over 200 million units of financial data to its partners.
The company has Mr Abdulhamid Hassan as its CEO and founder and Prakhar Singh as CTO and Co-founder.
Also, the fintech company helps businesses to access high-quality financial data and direct bank payments.
It has over 1,200 developers and businesses building with its products.
Also, the company has processed over 200 million transaction data for its partners.
Surely, these fintech companies are what you need to look out for in the coming year.
Takeaways:
Fintech is a growing industry in Nigeria.
It is also a promising industry.
Fintechs have decentralized the banking services in Nigeria.
They have also simplified financial services and made them seamless.
The five fintech companies we have x-rayed are promising ones.
What do you think? Type your comments below.
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