Funding

Nigerian digital-only bank, Kuda Bank raises $10 million in seed investment

Kuda Bank, the digital-only bank with a microfinance banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised $10 million in seed investment. Founded by Babs Ogundeyi and Mustapha Musty in 2016, it started out as Kudimoney, online-only savings and lending platform and then metamorphosed into a digital-only bank after it received a license from the CBN in 2019.

The round was said to be led by Target Global, Entrée Capital and SBI Investment. Other notable individual fintech founders and angel investors who participated include Raffael Johnen, Johan Lorenzen, Brandon Krieg/Ed Robinson, as well Oliver and Lish Jung — angel investors in Nubank, Revolut, and Chime, according to TechCrunch.

This new investment comes over a year after the digital bank raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding. At the time, the pre-seed funding was considered to be the highest for a Nigerian startup. According to reports, the CEO noted that the digital-only bank was going to use the funds to do a live launch in Nigeria by Q4 2019.

The Nigerian fintech industry appears to be gaining more global attention considering that the new seed investment for Kuda Bank is coming barely a month after Paystack, another prominent fintech company in Nigeria was acquired by Stripe for a deal of about $200 million. This acquisition is said to be the largest for any Nigerian startup to date.


Read also: Stripe acquires Nigerian fintech startup, Paystack for a deal of about $200 million 


Kuda Bank, without a physical location, enables users to send money to any bank in Nigeria, withdraw and deposit. It also give users free debit card with a zero card maintenance fee.

In a bid to give its customers access to Kuda debit cards and also allow them to make physical deposits as well as withdrawals, the digital bank partnered with three banks in Nigeria — Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Access Bank and Zenith Bank.

Interestingly, Kuda Bank has over 300,000 customers consisting of individual consumers and small businesses while it also boast of processing over $500 million of transactions every month on the average.


Got a story worth telling? Shoot us an email with SUBJECT — “Story Worth Telling” — to info@smepeaks.com.

Omolara Oseni

An SEO Content Lead at smepeaks. I write about social media and internet culture. I have a keen interest in storytelling, creative writing, media and photography.

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

Need ₦150M for your business? Apply for Wema Bank Hackaholics 2025

Alan Kay once said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” From…

2 days ago

Got a farming startup? Pitch for $50,000 in the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize 2025

Are you passionate about expanding your agribusiness and sharing your ideas with a wider and…

3 days ago

Can $30,000 turn your climate idea into action? Apply for Youth4Climate Call for Solutions 2025

The Youth4Climate Call for Solutions 2025 is calling for young innovators relentlessly tackling climate challenges…

4 days ago

NSIA Prize for Innovation 3.0 opens with $220,000 in funding and Silicon Valley training

Startups with bold, scalable ideas across healthcare, education, or agriculture now have a chance to…

5 days ago

Apply for EPIC 2025 and win a share of $100M in investment + $240,000 in cash

Global startups ready to make their mark in FinTech, digital health tech, or green tech…

6 days ago

AYuTe Africa Challenge returns with $1.5M in funding for agritech startups revolutionising smallholder farming

Smallholder farmers in Africa produce over 60% of the continent’s food but continue to struggle…

1 week ago