African FinTech Chipper Cash closed a $150 million Series C extended funding round at a more than $2 billion valuation, according to media reports.
This latest infusion of fresh capital was led by FTX, with participation by SVB Capital, Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos Expeditions, One Way Ventures and Tribe Capital, as well as other backers. Chipper Cash has raised over $305 million to date.
Co-founded in 2018 by Ham Serunjogi, who serves as CEO, and President Maijid Moujaled, the company specializes in app-based, no-charge, peer-to-peer (P2P), cross-border payments. The company operates across seven African countries — Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
See also: African Cross-Border FinTech Chipper Cash Nets $100M in Latest Round
Chipper Cash also moved into the U.S. market and just started remittances from the U.S. to Nigeria and Uganda, with more countries to be added soon. The company also plans to start Africa to U.S remittances in South Africa, Uganda and Ghana in 2022.
Earlier this year, the startup moved into social payments via a partnership with Twitter, using its Tip Jar-enabled African users to tip directly on the platform. The startup now has over four million users and is on a mission to make transferring money as simple as sending a text message.
Read more: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Invests in Chipper Cash in Latest African FinTech VC Deal
“Despite the recent growth in Africa, moving money across the continent is still slow and expensive. Unsurprisingly, it is the fastest-growing market with grassroots crypto adoption,” Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX CEO, told TechCrunch.
The partnership gives FTX a bigger presence in Africa. Chipper Cash will integrate with FTX to enable African users to fund their crypto wallets through Chipper Cash.
“That’s going to be a compelling use case for both of our companies as we keep scaling, and as FTX keeps scaling their geographical coverage. They do some of the most innovative work in the crypto space, so working with them is going to be quite exciting,” Serunjogi said.
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