A Tanzanian-born remittance startup called NALA has raised $40 million in equity in a historic deal that TechCrunch listed as one of Africa’s largest Series A rounds. The company is expanding its offerings to include a new B2B payments platform.

The new investment, which follows a $10 million seed in 2022, will primarily go toward building Rafiki, the company’s new B2B payment platform, according to NALA founder and CEO Benjamin Fernandes.

The San Francisco-based venture capital (VC) firm Acrew Capital led the oversubscribed Series A round, with DST Global, Norrsken22, and HOF Capital also participating.

A number of angel investors, including Ryan King of Chime and Vlad Tenev of Robinhood, two fintech founders, as well as current investors Amplo and NYCA Partners, also made investments.

Customers in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and European Union (EU) can currently send money across 249 banks and 26 mobile money services in 11 African markets, including Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda, through NALA’s consumer app.

For example, NALA has partnered with M-PESA and other mobile money services in Kenya to allow remitters to pay bills straight into local mobile wallets from overseas.

Fernandes claims that user demands for greater financial control drove NALA to decide to include more payment options. The fintech company is promoting Rafiki, a new B2B payments platform that went live in March 2024, to assist international companies sending money to and from Africa.

Regarding the new funding, Fernades stated that it will enable NALA to go beyond remittances, expanding its influence outside of Africa and constructing a strong payments ecosystem.

“We’re using this money to improve our infrastructure so that everyone can get dependable, affordable payments. We’re not just talking about change; we’re actually implementing it with the introduction of our own payment rails and the growth of our B2B platform Rafiki, according to Fernandes.

With the goal of facilitating local money transfers in Tanzania, NALA was founded in 2017. However, the fintech business changed course in 2021 to allow for international remittances.

The startup announced it has already achieved profitability and is on track to surpass 500,000 customers, with its consumer business currently accounting for over 90% of its revenues.

Rafiki is expanding its customer base. Among its initial clients was TransferGo, a UK-based fintech that uses Rafiki to process payments to Africa.

Meanwhile, NALA announced in March 2023 that it had received a license from the Bank of Tanzania to provide payment systems, allowing the fintech to integrate directly with banks and mobile money providers such as M-PESA.