TeamApt anticipates unicorns as a result of its $16 billion agent banking blitz
TeamApt anticipates unicorns as a result of its $16 billion agent banking blitz
TeamApt has established itself as a market leader in Nigeria's agent banking sector, which may propel it to the coveted status of a billion-dollar startup in the coming months.
The company, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, began in 2015 by developing banking applications. By the end of 2018, it supported the operations of 26 banks, processing an average of $160 million transactions per month.
Moniepoint, a platform for agent banking, was launched a year later.
As one of the Central Bank of Nigeria's "Super Agents," TeamApt's Moniepoint powers thousands of shops in Nigeria, where typical banking transactions – deposits, withdrawals, account opening, and more – are now conducted via point-of-sale devices.
However, how well is Moniepoint performing in the face of competition from other players?
Leading the pack
Tosin Eniolorunda, founder and CEO of TeamApt, is confident that the company is the market leader.
His audacity is based on data from SANEF, the body mandated by the Nigerian Central Bank to supervise agent banking in the country. According to this data, TeamApt controls 74% of the agent banking industry in terms of monthly transaction volume.
SANEF's agent banking information is not publicly available. It is distributed anonymously to startups in the sector. TechCabal has not independently verified these companies' performance rankings.
Eniolorunda cites the company's transaction value figures as another indicator of TeamApt's fintech maturity – and future valuation.
According to the CEO, TeamApt processed over $1 trillion ($2.4 billion) for the first time in March 2021. May's value was 1.4 trillion dollars ($3.5 billion), based on 68 million transactions. Between April 2020 and April 2021, TeamApt processed $16 billion in transactions.
These transactions pertain to four distinct use cases: deposit, withdrawal, airtime, and bill payment. Moniepoint claims to have 14 million unique monthly customers.
Unicorn calling?
Eniolorunda makes no mention of the company's current valuation. However, based on the aforementioned data and that of other Nigerian fintechs, he believes TeamApt is comfortably positioned among the continent's most valuable startups.
“We anticipate the company achieving unicorn-level valuations in the near future,” he told TechCabal earlier this month.
Flutterwave announced in March that it had processed over 140 million transactions totaling more than $9 billion since its inception.
Opay's most recent available figures date from 2020; the Opera-backed company claimed to have processed $1.4 billion in October and $2 billion in December of that year. According to CEO Tayo Oviosu, Paga will process $2.3 billion in 2020 and $8 billion over the last four years.
There is little information available about Firstmonie, another agent banking heavyweight. According to observers, it is more private as a result of First Bank's ownership.
Unless and until TeamApt is acquired for a billion dollars or goes public, the only way to determine its valuation is following a funding round.
Although rumors of an announcement circulated briefly in May, the company has yet to declare a round officially. Its most recent round of funding was a $5.5 million Series A round in February 2019, led by Jim Ovia's Quantum Capital.
Eniolorunda confirmed the round – "a couple of tens of millions" – has concluded during a media event this week Thursday. Another – “much more” – is in the works.
When these are made public, a more complete picture of the company's valuation, direction, and, more broadly, investor appetite for fast-growing fintech companies in Africa will emerge.
Flutterwave and Chipper Cash made headlines in the first half of the year after raising more than $100 million in funding and achieving unicorn status. OPay is reportedly in negotiations for a $400 million deal that could value the company at $1.5 billion, and Paga anticipates becoming a unicorn within a year or two.
Is TeamApt the next logical step?
Digital bank on the horizon
Meanwhile, the company is transforming into a more consumer-oriented organization.
“As of today, we are focusing our efforts on transforming our business into a digital bank,” Enioolorunda explains.
Moniepoint will continue to power agent banking but will also be used by individuals as a digital bank in this new direction. Eniolorunda asserts that this "hybrid approach" is critical for truly serving Africa's underserved population, which, for good reason, retains a desire to visit service providers when quality falls short.
TeamApt's other expansion strategy is geographical; the CEO says the company plans to begin operations in Africa's "third-largest francophone country" by the third quarter of this year.
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