Paga gets More Funding To Scale Mobile Payment Nationwide

Cash-less society is going to boost business and bring lots of benefits to the unbanked. We have seen how mobile money is being practised in different countries of the world. One thing is certain, mobile payment cannot be implemented in different countries in the same manner.

Paga, with a mission to deliver innovative and universal access to financial services for all Nigerians, has got another boost in funding. They initially got funding from GoodWell West Africa Microfinance Development Company who believed in what they are working at and invested at an early stage.

It is no small fit doing business in Nigeria. However, there is a lot of money to be made for those who can dare like Tayo Oviosu of Paga. It is in this same market that MTN has made more than $2billion USD back to back in 2010 and 2011. Aliko Dangote, an industrialist, also mentions the opportunities that doing business in Nigeria bring, despite the unrest. He said in a report written by Reuters;

“Nigeria is the best kept secret in the world. Anybody who doesn’t invest in Nigeria only has himself to blame, going forward, if he misses out.”

The cow, Nigeria, still has more milk in it. A few more investors are ready to milk the cow and they have chose to pump in fund into Paga. They have bought into the vision of Paga and they are ready to help the service scale to the whole nation.

In a press release released by Paga this morning. They stated clearly that Adlevo Capital, Omdiyar network, Acumen Fund, Capricorn Investment Group have joined forced with them to scale Paga and grow it nationwide. These new investors will be joining GoodWell West Africa Microfincance Development Company who bought into the vision of Paga early and invested in it.

Paga was launched in February 2011 and they now have well over 125,000 registered users. They have processed over 276,000 transactions worth more than 2.6 billion Naira.

Paga enables any person with a mobile phone or internet access to send cash to anyone in Nigeria, buy or send airtime credit, pay bills, pay at both online and physical stores (without cash notes or debit cards), and process a variety of other transactions.

I have seen the service been deployed by DealDey, a daily deal site with operation in Lagos and Abuja. I haven’t given it a full spin as their agent network is still scarcely distributed. Now that they have more funds, this is going to be one area they will focus on.

Founder and CEO, Tayo Oviosu has this to say;

To date, we have been funded by Individuals and Goodwell. We are humbled by the interest we continue to receive from both local and international institutional investors. This will enable Paga scale our operation across Nigeria and allow us to build upon our front-runner position.

Looking forward to seeing Paga eventually become one service we can easily use and rely on.

You can download the full press release here.