Nigeria: Nigerian female-led fintech closes $2 million in a seed round

Pivo, a fintech firm run by women in Nigeria, has closed a $2 million seed investment round to improve supply chain transaction management and payment reconciliation with new tools and upgrades to old ones.

Pivo, a new and more effective way for SME owners in the supply chain sector to obtain financial services, was founded by Ijeoma Akwiwu and Nkiru Amadi-Emina in July 2021 and went into public beta in September.

The company’s core product, Pivo Capital, enables businesses to acquire working capital loans of up to $50,000 to help them scale their operations. Pivo Finance and Pivo Plus are two other solutions offered by the firm. Customers can obtain a digital-only banking service through Pivo Finance, while Pivo Plus provides access to insurance, corporate compliance, and support for tax regulations.

Precursor Ventures, Vested World, Y Combinator, FoundersX, and Mercy Corp Ventures are the backers of the investment round. “The transaction volume of Pivo Business accounts grew by over 400% between April and September. With this funding, we intend to build on existing products and develop solutions for supply chain anchors,” she added.

The money will be utilized to create new items and improve ones that already exist. In addition, the business wants to expand into East Africa, increase its activities there, and expand its footprint outside of its Lagos office.