Chipper Cash doubles its valuation with extension round

Chipper Cash raises $150 million in a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX.

Chipper Cash, an African cross-border payments company, has raised $150 million in a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX.

The investment comes barely six months after Chipper Cash closed its first Series C round of $100 million, led by SVB Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of SVB Financial Group.

In terms of funding, the Bezos backed startup has received $305 million since its inception in 2018, while the company’s entire series C round stands at $250.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX led the round. SVB Capital and other existing investors such as Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos Expeditions, One Way Ventures and Tribe Capital reinvested in this extension round.

The Series C extension round is coming six months after Chipper cash’s $100 million Series C round. The short timeframe (the distance between Chipper Cash’s Series C and its extension round), as well as the stack of cash from the extension round, suggest that investors are bullish on the company. An explanation is the startup’s position in Africa’s remittances space. Speaking of the firm’s position in Africa’s remittances space, Chipper Cash boast a customer base of over 4 million, making it one of the largest firm in this space.

Chipper Cash partnership with Twitter could also be another reason why firms are bullish on the startup.

Earlier this year, Twitter launched a Tip Jar feature, which allows creators to receive money on its platform. The social media company integrated with some payments platforms to make it accessible in different regions. Chipper Cash was picked to offer the service to African creators through its payments link and plans to make its Tip Jawr integration accessible for users in the U.S. by next year.

Chipper Cash has a presence in seven African countries and recently left the shores of Africa to explore other markets. In May, the company expanded into the U.K., allowing people in Europe to send money to Africa. It also did the same in the U.S. last month.

However, Chipper Cash has a massive task of staying relevant in this space (sending money from the U.S. to Africa), as there are already established players. This includes Wise, MoneyGram, Sendwave and Remitly. Chipper Cash does have a plan to stay relevant in the space. Given how expensive it is to send money from the U.S. to Africa, Chipper Cash hopes to beat the competition by offering the best prices.