Payday, the neobank offering global accounts to Africans, raises $3M in seed funding

Payday, a neobank that issues global accounts to Africans in USD, EUR, and GBP, has raised $3 million in an oversubscribed seed investment round.

The platform offers remote workers and freelancers the ability to send and receive money, with customers in 11 African countries currently using Payday. Payday's "future of work" initiative aims to fuel borderless payment alternatives in major currencies.

Payday also offers virtual dollar and naira cards, currency swaps, payment links, local bill payments, and peer-to-peer transfers. Payday ended 2022 with slightly over 100,000 users, but now offers its virtual cards and other products to more than 300,000 users. Payday also processes an average of 40,000 transactions daily and over $25 million monthly.

Payday's burn rate has tripled as a result of extensive marketing, but CEO Favour Ori claims the company remains profitable, having achieved profitability in August 2022.

The company's monthly revenues, which it makes by charging a fee on transactions, have quadrupled due to its increasing user base. Payday has helped process close to $1m as a payment partner for SpaceX’s Starlink.

The seed investment was led by Moniepoint Inc., which houses Moniepoint Microfinance Bank and TeamApt Nigeria. Other investors included Techstars, HoaQ, DFS Lab’s Stellar Africa Fund, Ingressive Capital Fund II, and angel investors such as MFS Africa Chief Executive Dare Okoudjou and Norebase CEO Tola Onayemi.

With this funding, Payday will now look to secure operational licensing in the UK and Canada while building out operations in the former. The fintech will also intensify its marketing efforts while hiring more talent.