StartupLagos
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    Nigeria Lending startup, Lidya raises $8.3 million pre-Series B to scale its operations in existing markets

    Nigeria Lending startup, Lidya raises $8.3 million pre-Series B to scale its operations in existing markets

    Business-financing platform, PayHippo raises $1 million Pre-Seed to fund more SMEs in Nigeria

    Business-financing platform, PayHippo raises $1 million Pre-Seed to fund more SMEs in Nigeria

    Fairmoney raises $42 million Series B round led by Tiger Global, reveals plans on evolving into a full-fledged Neobank

    Fairmoney raises $42 million Series B round led by Tiger Global, reveals plans on evolving into a full-fledged Neobank

    Healthtech startup, MDaaS global secures $2.3million seed extension, launches a new product

    Healthtech startup, MDaaS global secures $2.3million seed extension, launches a new product

    Trending Tags

    • funding opportunities
    • African Entrepreneurship Award
  • Startup Stories
  • Startup Advice
  • Features
  • Podcast
  • About Us
Podcast
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • News
    Nigeria Lending startup, Lidya raises $8.3 million pre-Series B to scale its operations in existing markets

    Nigeria Lending startup, Lidya raises $8.3 million pre-Series B to scale its operations in existing markets

    Business-financing platform, PayHippo raises $1 million Pre-Seed to fund more SMEs in Nigeria

    Business-financing platform, PayHippo raises $1 million Pre-Seed to fund more SMEs in Nigeria

    Fairmoney raises $42 million Series B round led by Tiger Global, reveals plans on evolving into a full-fledged Neobank

    Fairmoney raises $42 million Series B round led by Tiger Global, reveals plans on evolving into a full-fledged Neobank

    Healthtech startup, MDaaS global secures $2.3million seed extension, launches a new product

    Healthtech startup, MDaaS global secures $2.3million seed extension, launches a new product

    Trending Tags

    • funding opportunities
    • African Entrepreneurship Award
  • Startup Stories
  • Startup Advice
  • Features
  • Podcast
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
StartupLagos
No Result
View All Result

1- month old Telda raises the largest pre-seed in Africa yet

Team Startup Lagos by Team Startup Lagos
05/25/2021
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
0
1- month old Telda raises the largest pre-seed in Africa yet

Two weeks ago, Egyptian e-commerce fulfillment startup Flextock raised the largest pre-seed in MENA. But that has changed today with Telda’s fundraise surpassing that record with a considerable margin in both MENA and Africa (Autochek’s $3.4 million) for now. The $5 million raised is the first investment by Sequoia Capital in the Middle East & North Africa.

RELATED POSTS

Nigeria Lending startup, Lidya raises $8.3 million pre-Series B to scale its operations in existing markets

Business-financing platform, PayHippo raises $1 million Pre-Seed to fund more SMEs in Nigeria

Fairmoney raises $42 million Series B round led by Tiger Global, reveals plans on evolving into a full-fledged Neobank

Telda is a fintech that wants to change how Gen Z in the Middle East spends their money. Launched last month, Telda allows users to sign up for a digital account that comes with a free Mastercard-powered card. The card can be used for online payments, in-store purchases, and cash withdrawals. But while the service is currently live, Telda cards are yet to be distributed to existing and new customers.

The Cairo-based startup was founded a little over a month ago by Swvl’s co-founder and former CTO Ahmed Sabbah and Youssef Sholqamy who was previously a senior engineer with Uber’s infrastructure team. Sabbah said he and his co-founder had been looking at the fintech space at their former workplaces. However, after his experience using N26 while visiting a friend in Berlin in 2015, his eyes opened to the possibilities of digital banking in Egypt.

Telda App screenshot

The startup already has over 30,000 sign-ups with over 17,000 people who’ve requested the card from the app. Telda in a statement said that it has become the first company in Egypt to receive a license from the Central bank of Egypt under the new Banking Agents regulations. The license allows them to issue cards and onboard customers digitally. Its co-founder and CEO Ahmed Sabbah told MENAbytes that it is difficult to define an exact timeline as there are multiple stakeholders involved in the process but it’s now a matter of weeks before they start shipping the cards to users who are on its waitlist.

Explaining the details of how Sequoia invested in the company, Sabbah revealed that it started with a cold message on LinkedIn that he had sent to a partner at the firm. He then spoke with multiple people at the firm and Sequoia gave him a term sheet a few weeks later. 

The American VC had previously led a $2 million seed round in Brazil’s Nubank, a neobank that is now valued at $25 billion and has close to 40 million customers across Latin America. Nubank was founded by a former Sequoia partner David Vélez.

George Robson, the Sequoia partner who led the investment in Telda sees many parallels between Brazil and Egypt, “Both countries boast a large, young, talented and tech-savvy population with a strong appetite to innovate. We are delighted to partner with Telda and earmark our first investment in the region,” he said in a statement.

Buy JNews
ADVERTISEMENT

Telda intends to fast-track its card production and distribution with this new funding. It also plans to capitalize on Sequoia’s name for hiring and expansion, the CEO continued.

CEO, Ahmed Sabbah

“I think hiring is key for us. We want to scale the team into a world-class team that’s willing to tap into the opportunity. What we aspire for is basically growing in Egypt, start to deliver cards for the early adopters, and we see ourselves reaching close to a million cards in our first year.”

With the majority of Egypt remaining unbanked and even those who have a bank account are generally not happy with the digital experience offered by traditional retail banks, Telda might just be the next biggest thing out of Africa!

Tags: AfricaEgyptFundingMENATelda
ShareTweetShare
Team Startup Lagos

Team Startup Lagos

Startup Lagos is a leading Nigerian media and information platform, known for its end-to-end coverage of the Nigerian startup ecosystem. Starting 5 years ago, Startup Lagos has now become the gateway to the Nigerian startup ecosystem.

Related Posts

Nigeria Lending startup, Lidya raises $8.3 million pre-Series B to scale its operations in existing markets
Funding

Nigeria Lending startup, Lidya raises $8.3 million pre-Series B to scale its operations in existing markets

07/08/2021
Business-financing platform, PayHippo raises $1 million Pre-Seed to fund more SMEs in Nigeria
Business

Business-financing platform, PayHippo raises $1 million Pre-Seed to fund more SMEs in Nigeria

07/03/2021
Fairmoney raises $42 million Series B round led by Tiger Global, reveals plans on evolving into a full-fledged Neobank
Funding

Fairmoney raises $42 million Series B round led by Tiger Global, reveals plans on evolving into a full-fledged Neobank

07/02/2021
Healthtech startup, MDaaS global secures $2.3million seed extension, launches a new product
Funding

Healthtech startup, MDaaS global secures $2.3million seed extension, launches a new product

07/01/2021
Carbon partners with Visa to offer Debit cards to its customers
Business

Carbon partners with Visa to offer Debit cards to its customers

07/01/2021
Cowrywise receives license to operate as a Fund/Portfolio Manager from the SEC, becomes the first fintech to do so.
Business

Cowrywise receives license to operate as a Fund/Portfolio Manager from the SEC, becomes the first fintech to do so.

06/29/2021
Next Post
Flutterwave announces multiyear partnership with Basketball African League

Flutterwave announces multiyear partnership with Basketball African League

African-focused VC, Future Africa announces $3 million investments in 13 startups in 2021

African-focused VC, Future Africa announces $3 million investments in 13 startups in 2021

Recommended Stories

Meet 10 African innovators selected for Accelerator Startupbootcamp AfriTech

08/06/2018
Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship

Apply now for Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme 2017

01/23/2017

01/11/2015

Popular Stories

  • 8 Active venture capitalist Firms in Nigeria

    4 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 0
  • Paylater launches PayVest, to provide investment opportunities for users

    3 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 0
  • 6 Travel Tech Startups in Nigeria you should know

    10 shares
    Share 10 Tweet 0
  • TradeDepot raises $10m pre-Series B funding for expansion and new financial products

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Life Bank Nigeria Launches Digital Blood and Oxygen Bank in Ibadan

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Currently Playing
StartupLagos

We are an authoritative voice of the Nigerian Startup Ecosystem and it has brought to light the amazing stories of thousands of startups, entrepreneurs, technological innovations, businesses and many other constituents of the startup ecosystem

Recent Posts

  • Nigeria Lending startup, Lidya raises $8.3 million pre-Series B to scale its operations in existing markets
  • Business-financing platform, PayHippo raises $1 million Pre-Seed to fund more SMEs in Nigeria
  • Fairmoney raises $42 million Series B round led by Tiger Global, reveals plans on evolving into a full-fledged Neobank

Categories

Follow us

    Go to the Customizer > JNews : Social, Like & View > Instagram Feed Setting, to connect your Instagram account.

© 2020 Startup Lagos - brought to you by Prime Startups.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Subscription
  • Newsletter Subscription
  • Category
    • Business
    • Culture
    • Economy
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Travel
    • Opinion
    • Politics
    • Tech
    • World
  • Category
    • Business
    • Culture
    • Economy
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Travel
    • Opinion
    • Politics
    • Tech
    • World
  • Landing Page
  • Landing Page
  • Buy JNews
  • Buy JNews
  • Support Forum
  • Support Forum
  • Pre-sale Question
  • Pre-sale Question
  • Contact Us
  • Contact Us
  • Home

© 2020 Startup Lagos - brought to you by Prime Startups.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.