Making borders matter less: Why we invested in MFS Africa

Have you ever considered how strange it is that you can call anyone in the world on their mobile phone, but you cannot use WhatsApp to call people on FaceTime? Or use Zoom to reach someone on Teams?

For that matter, have you ever asked yourself why is it so easy to send money from one IBAN account to another within the same currency zone, but so complex to do it across currencies? And why is it almost impossible to send money from an IBAN account to a friend’s PayPal wallet and vice versa?

Money transfers should be as easy as making a phone call. Money should be able to flow seamlessly between bank accounts, mobile wallets, payment cards as well as within and between countries and currencies.

This is the mission that MFS Africa has subscribed to.

Founded in 2009 by world-class operators Dare Okoudjou and Maz Chaponda, MFS Africa has created the largest payments aggregator hub in Africa. It connects over 320 million mobile money wallets across 180 schemes in 34 countries. With MFS Africa, money can flow seamlessly between mobile wallets domestically and across borders, but also between mobile wallets and bank accounts or cash agent networks.

Making money schemes interoperable enables migrant workers to send money home. It allows merchants to offer a wide range of checkout options. It also empowers companies to trade more easily with counterparts across the continent. Over 420 partners utilize the MFS payments hub today, among them world-class companies like WorldRemit, Paga, PayPal, Spotify Glovo, Rapyd and d-local.

We are beyond excited to partner with the team at MFS Africa and support them in their mission to make borders matter less. This marks our first investment on the continent; we hope that it’s the first of many to come.