Chipper Cash Launches A Free Peer-to-peer Money Transfer Service In South Africa
Chipper Cash launches a free peer-to-peer money transfer service in South Africa
Chipper, an African fintech company, has announced the launch of its money transfer and cross-border payment services in South Africa, the company said. South Africans can now take advantage of free unlimited instant domestic money transfers, invest in cryptocurrencies, and purchase and send airtime and data to friends and family members without incurring any fees.
This information was contained in a statement that was made available on Thursday afternoon. With the launch of its South African network, the company's total African network now includes seven countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria.
In 2019, there were approximately 11 million unbanked people in South Africa. Many South Africans were forced to look for alternative methods of sending money home, which was a lifeline for the 24 million people who send money to family and friends on a daily basis, as a result of this. More specifically, there are 7.7 million people who have relocated to other provinces for work, resulting in a total annual movement of over R157 billion between provinces.
People in that economy can now instantly purchase airtime and data from leading South African network providers to send to friends and family as a result of the introduction of Chippercash to the market.
Chipper Cash's speed, low cost, and user-friendliness make it a viable alternative to traditional money transfer methods, which charge high fees, require complicated processes, and take a long time to transfer money. Its interface is intuitive and straightforward, and it makes sending money to friends and family as simple and instantaneous as sending a text message to them.
When asked about the expansion, Pardon Mujakachi, Chipper Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships in Africa, said the company's mission is to make the process more seamless and cost-effective for the many families in South Africa who rely on domestic remittances for a living.
He stated: every year, over R157 billion is transferred between provinces as a result of people sending money to their families and friends. In addition to the 7.7 million people who relocated to other provinces in search of work, this is the result of the overall 24 million South Africans who send money to one another on a daily basis, according to the latest figures. Chipper Cash's domestic P2P service, which is free, fast, and simple, is now available to them all. "We believe it provides South Africans with the freedom to send money instantly anywhere in the country from their mobile phones," says the company.
Priority of Chipper
Chipper was founded in 2018 by Ham Serunjogi (CEO) and Maijid Moujaled (President) after working for a short period of time at well-known companies such as Facebook, Flickr, and Yahoo. Nigeria, Kenya, and the United Kingdom are all home to the startup, which has its headquarters in San Francisco, California, USA.
The Chipper Cash app was developed with the goal of making money transfers for Africans as simple and efficient as possible. The initiative also aims to increase the number of people who have access to financial services, as well as to digitise daily payments in order to reduce the reliance on physical cash.
Chipper Cash completed a pre-seed round in May of this year, in which they raised $2.4 million. This was followed in December 2019 by a $6 million seed funding round led by Deciens Capital. In June 2020, the fintech raised $13.8 million in Series A funding, which was quickly followed by a $30 million Series B round of funding in November 2020.
In May 2021, however, the company will complete a $100 million Series C funding round, allowing it to become the first unicorn with a valuation of $1.5 billion, making it the first unicorn in history to do so.
Chipper Cash has received a total of $152.2 million in funding over the past three years since its launch in 2018. SVB Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Raptor Group, and Ribbit Capital participated in the funding rounds, which were also supported by 500 Global and Liquid 2 Ventures on a repeat basis. As a result, the company has embarked on a worldwide expansion campaign.
Expansion
Founded in October 2018, the African tech unicorn expanded its operations to Nigeria in September of the following year. The startup Chipper Cash has amassed a significant number of users in the short time that it has been in operation in an ecosystem that already includes established players such as Paga and Opay.
Chipper Cash has grown in recent years, adding investment services as well as cryptocurrency trading options to its list of offerings. Following the completion of its Series C funding round, the company, which has more than 200 employees, announced plans to expand its talent acquisition efforts.
The startup currently has approximately 4 million users on its platform, and it processes an average of 80,000 transactions per day, with a total payment value of $100 million.
