VertoFX, a Nigerian fintech startup, has raised $10 million in a Series A round of funding, two years after it raised $2.1 million in seed funding.

The fund was led by leading fintech investor Quona Capital. Participating investors are the Treasury, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), TMT Investments, Unicorn Growth Capital, Zrosk Investments and P1 Ventures. Previous investors include Y Combinator, Accelerated Digital Ventures, and Ace & Company.

With the newly raised fund, the startup has joined the growing number of fintech startups in Africa, attracting lucrative investments from around the world. Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya lead the pack, but others like Egypt have been remarkably securing investments recently.

VertoFX which focuses on businesses in emerging markets, will use the investment to continue building its platform to enable businesses to facilitate swift cross-border payments, solving important pain points in the B2B global payments industry, which is expected to grow to nearly USD 200 trillion by 2028, over six times the size of the retail payments market.

The company also plans to accelerate its geographical expansion into emerging markets such as Africa, a region where SMEs cross-border payment needs are currently significantly under-addressed.

VertoFX’s fast and frictionless global payments platform uses its “marketplace” solution to match businesses efficiently, especially where one of the currency pairs is an illiquid currency.

“Using Verto’s three main products (Payments, Exchange & Multi-Currency account), business owners can now send cross-border B2B payments at FX rates up to 9 times cheaper than they could through traditional banks, and with Verto wallets businesses can hold money with us in 39 currencies and make instant cross-border payments to other companies on the VertoFX network in real-time,” said Ola Oyetayo, co-founder and CEO of VertoFX.

VertoFX was launched in 2018 by Nigerians, Ola Oyetayo and Anthony Oduwole. In their previous experience at top-tier UK banks, the two saw firsthand that while trade and supply chains are increasingly global, international payments remain a complicated and expensive proposition, especially in emerging markets where local currencies are less familiar and less liquid than those of more developed economies.

And while the proliferation of peer-to-peer and remittance companies have started to address this pain point for consumers in emerging markets, the B2B market—which serves the SME sector and accounts for nearly 30% of global imports and 45% of total employment in emerging markets—has remained largely untouched.

Anthony Oduwole, the company’s co-founder and CTO Said while traditional peer-to-peer payment platforms often have transaction limits, the VertoFX platform facilitates payment volumes that are appropriate for MSMEs.

“We plan to expand our presence in emerging markets with this fund through a suite of top-class tech stacks. Geographically, this is an essential step towards our mission of making international payments simple, fast and cheap.

“Our purposefully built tech infrastructure and payment rails enable instant cross-border payments in a way that is really exciting for businesses,” he said.

Monica Brand Engel, co-founder and Managing Partner at Quona Capital, said the vacuum in international payments, immobilizing growth for SMEs, presents VertoFX with the opportunity to offer innovative solutions.

“Low visibility and traceability, slow speeds and the high costs of cross-border payments all inhibit SME growth across global and emerging markets.

“VertoFX’s innovative platform addresses these pain points, removing friction to make international payments fast, simple, and reliable—a key component of SME growth. We are proud to support VertoFX in this important and impactful work,” she said.

VertoFX is carving out a niche in the fintech market, targeting SMEs to drive a B2B-focused payment system. Raising additional $10 million two years after its seed fund shows the startup has amazing growth potential.

Thank you Duke Magazine United Kingdom. Personally, I would have gone with “I am a global citizen. Confident, Respectful and Hardworking”.  With those three attributes, I have dined with the world’s greats, and hope one day I will be elevated to their levels.

People, if they ask you “have you ever seen a village boy on the cover of a UK magazine”, you have an answer: “Ndubuisi Ekekwe”. Be unbounded, and do not be limited by anything. Put in effort and the world will elevate you. One of the most memorable presentations I have ever given was speaking before Bill Gates.

I had one concern: would they stop me after 60 seconds because I was wasting a billionaire’s time. But gracious heavens, I finished and he praised me – and extended a handshake. Doubts exist because we are humans but check, we are making progress.

Be on the cover of a magazine!

In business, it is always easier to execute a new, hard and great mission than a marginal one. Men and women easily sign up for things which are GREAT than things which are ephemeral. Yes, it would be easier to execute Tesla mission than another typical car company like Ford or Peugeot. While great people will line up for Tesla, many would be unresponsive for another Ford or Peugeot company!

When Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to “bring the world closer together“, via Facebook, he has put a great vision. It is certainly new and it is worthwhile. The newness and hardness are not necessarily a function of technology, but rather the aspirational quality of the mission at hand. When Google says it wants to organize the world’s information, it has something many people, across generations, would commit to help it execute.

In our age, you can sign up a whole village if you say you are going to the moon. But if you say you want to dig the ground, many will not show up. Going to the moon is new and harder; men and women would be inspired by that possibility. Digging the ground is easier and stale; few people would want that. The best talent would congregate for the moon business while the digging ground one will struggle.

Do hard but great things, and the best will like to work for you!

Communicate A Greater Purpose

From the 7th century Tang dynasty of the invention of paper money to the Great Debate of Pythagoras and to the modern concept of co-opetition, one thing has been constant: industries advance when they find ways to cooperate even as they compete against one another. In fixing market frictions, finding ways to expand the market becomes strategic. 

In the domain of financial services, Open Banking is a vista to advance the sector, accelerate innovation and improve service delivery for citizens. I will be speaking on the promises of Open Banking in First Bank Fintech Summit 5.0 and how it would unlock new opportunities in the financial sector in Nigeria and beyond. 

Nigeria’s fintech sector is still at infancy because we have minimal innovation at the credit phase. If we use open banking and concatenate disparate datasets, a new ordinance will evolve. Financial APIs will change economies but they can only be potent if powered within a unified data regime. From insurance to mortgage to real estate to core banking, open banking APIs will redesign the architecture of our economy. 

Go to First Bank website and register free.

#believe. That is all it takes. For everything ever accomplished, there was a phase that someone believed. Your background is past, but your future is an open book which can chronicle greatness and accomplishments. Have a great Sunday.