Nigerian banking-as-a-service platform Maplerad comes out of stealth with $6 million in seed funding

Acquah Nana Yeboah -

Maplerad, a Nigeria and US-based global BaaS platform targeting Africa has raised $6 million in seed funding, at a $30 million valuation, based on estimates.

  • Maplerad was founded in 2020 by Miracle Anywanwu and Obinna Chukwujioke as an infra product that allows companies to embed powerful financial features like accounts, payments, FX, and cards into their products.
  • While in stealth, Maplerad processed millions of dollars monthly for over 100 businesses acquired onto its platform, including startups such as Pastel, Spleet, Bridgecard, Onboardly, Vella, Crowdforce, Dojah, GetEquity, and a few banks.
  • Now that it’s out of stealth, Maplerad will use this new investment to acquire more customers, get additional licences, build its team and solidify its presence across Africa.
  • According to the CEO, “there’s a huge opportunity for Maplerad which is the best-in-class banking as a service solution to provide businesses with the financial infrastructure to scale across Africa and globally quickly and seamlessly.”
  • The seed round was led by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, this marks the firm's third African investment after Kuda and Yellow Card. Other notable investors in the round include Golden Palm Investments Corporation, Michael Vaughn (ex-COO, Venmo), Fintech Fund, Babs Ogundeyi (CEO, Kuda).