MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Pngme, Data Processor for Lenders in Africa, Raises $3m in Seed Equity Round Led by EchoVC, Lateral Capital, Radical Ventures, Raptor Group

Pngme, a US-based financial data firm focused on African markets, recently announced it has closed its seed fundraising round at a volume of USD 3 million. Pngme offers an application program interface (API) that allows financial institutions to access and analyze large sets of “mobile money transactions, bank transactions, loan data [and] behavioural data” for use in making credit decisions. The API is available on a tier-based subscription service, the lowest of which is free of charge.

The lead investors in the round are EchoVC, Lateral Capital, Radical Ventures and Raptor Group. The other participating investors are Japan’s Kepple Africa Ventures, US-based Rally Cap Ventures, Canada’s Two Small Fish Ventures and William Tunstall-Pedoe of the UK. Pngme previously raised USD 500,000 in a pre-seed round in 2019.

EchoVC is a Nigeria-based venture capital (VC) firm that invests in “underrepresented” communities. Lateral Capital is a US-based investor in technology in sub-Saharan Africa. Radical Ventures, based in Canada, is an early-stage VC firm that focuses on artificial intelligence. Based in the US, Raptor Group invests in sectors such as sports and technology.

By Tejas Gumudavelly, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

TechCrunch press release
https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/11/pngme-a-financial-data-platform-closes-3m-seed-to-accelerate-growth-in-sub-saharan-africa/

Pngme homepage
https://pngme.com/

CrunchBase profile on Pngme
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/pngme

EchoVC homepage
http://www.echovc.com/

Lateral Capital homepage
https://latcap.co/team/

Radical Ventures homepage
https://radical.vc/

Raptor Group homepage
https://www.raptorgroup.com/

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