YC-backed Mono raises $2m seed funding to diversify into the internet economy
YC-backed Mono raises $2m seed funding to diversify into the internet economy
Mono, a fintech startup focused on APIs, has raised $2 million in seed funding. This comes less than two months after the company was accepted into Y Combinator and raised $125,000 in funding.
The new investment will help the company expand into a new segment of the Nigerian economy: the Internet Economy. Mono is barely a year old, having been created in August 2020 by Abdulhamid Hassan and Prakhar Singh.
While Mono currently assists businesses in gaining access to their users' banking information with their consent, the purpose of Mono is far larger than facilitating financial transactions. “We're thinking about how we can fuel the internet economy with data that isn't really financial data,” Abdulhamid told TechCrunch.
“For instance, consider open data for telecommunications providers. Consider the possibility of transferring your data from one telco to another without having to obtain a new SIM card and re-register. That is the direction I see the business taking, at least for Mono.”
Babs Ogundeyi, co-founder and CEO of Kuda Bank, participated in this latest funding round, as did Gbenga Oyebode of Entree Capital and The Continent Venture Partners. Eric Idiahi of Verod Capital and Lateral Capital of New York also participated in the funding round. Entree Capital invested in Kuda Bank's seed round of $10 million six months ago.
Mono has raised funds in three rounds in less than a year. The first was a $500,000 pre-seed round to accelerate the adoption of its API in the fintech industry. Then came the $125,000 from Y Combinator, and finally the $2 million, bringing the overall investment to $2.625 million.
Mono discussed expanding into Ghana and Kenya following its $500,000 funding round in September 2020. Although that has not occurred since then, Hassan says it is now a priority and will be launched in June with a range of customers including GTBank, Fidelity Bank, and MTN Ghana's mobile money service arm.
He added, "Our expansion is primarily motivated by our customers' desire to expand into new markets, as is the case with many of our products." We collaborate with our clients to provide them with the resources necessary to create new experiences for their customers.”
In conclusion
Over 100 fintechs now use Mono's API to gain access to their customers' financial details. Among these are money lending institutions such as Aella Credit, Carbon, Renmoney, and Credpal. It has linked over 100,000 financial accounts for its fintech users and analyzed over 66 million financial transactions in its first nine months of operation.
Mono will leverage its current emphasis on advancing the internet economy and its recent capital infusion to bolster its identity data offerings and fintech API, as well as develop new software for telcos and businesses in other verticals.
