The US$35 million (or more) Club

The past week i.e September 3rd - 7th, saw Paystack, Tizeti, MDaaS, FreshSource, AlMaqarr, Aqarmap and others raise funds from local and international investors. We might as well say it was "fundraising week"!
Of all the fundraisers, I found that of Nigeria’s Paga interesting as it brought the fintech startup’s total external funds to a whopping US$35 million. To bring it home, that’s twelve billion five hundred and ninety-three million naira 😱😵😲 (₦12,593,000,000.00)
This is no mean feat, but are they the only Nigerian startup to have raised such (or even more) insane amount of external funds?
Jumia has. In fact, the e-commerce giant, the first African startup to attain unicorn status, might be topping the "Nigerian Startup External Investment Chart" with its US$767 million raised so far, the latest being a Series C round of US$326 million in March 2016.
You see what I did with US$35 million (converting it to naira to bring it home)? I can't do that with Jumia's numbers. I'll have a headache!
With a total of US$108 million in external investment raised, Konga is also on the list. It's latest funding round was in April 2015 and was worth US$41 million. The e-commerce giant was recently sold, because it wasn't growing, to Zinox Technologies for an unknown amount.
Andela's total external funding raised to date stands at US$80 million. They're on the list too!!! The talent accelerator's latest funding round was in October 2017 and worth US$40 million.
Jason Njoku’s iROKOtv has also raised more than US$35 million. It’s latest round of funding - a Series E in January 2016 and worth US$19 million - brought its total to US$39 million.
Ehn ehn, kiwani big deal?
Raising funds in these part is very hard due to countless reasons. As such, I’m very impressed to see these startups raise not just funds, but huge ones.
Funding rounds aren’t milestones and shouldn’t be celebrated in the same way as revenues, profits, gaining new customers, etc. Regardless, they’re crucial to the success of startups.
Many would have stunted growth or died outrightly if external funds weren’t raised to fund important projects. Paga may not be able (or it might take a longer time, and really “time no dey”) to break into newer markets if it hadn’t raise this new round.
While this article is in a way welcoming Paga to the US$35 million (or above) Club, it’s in fact a celebration of these amazing founders who are doing great work and are able to convince investors to bet money on them.
🙌🙌
