(Ecofin Agency) - Francophone Africa-focused digital bank PaySika has secured €300,000 (about $348,412) in seed funding. The deal represents its first fundraising since its inception in February 2020.

PaySika says it will use the money to hire new staff members and expand its solutions. The digital bank is backed by a group of French, British, and Nigerian investors, and plans an official launch of activities in the first quarter of 2022. It will first be active in Cameroon and Gabon, and subsequently in Benin.

The institution, which claims to have reached 20,000 pre-registrations in the pre-launch phase, targets mainly underbanked populations that are underserved by traditional banking services. Only 20% of the population in Francophone Africa has access to banking services, according to official data. With the strong adoption of mobile money and the use of smartphones in the region, many neo-banks like PaySika have decided to develop mobile banking solutions to attract these populations.

Recently in Nigeria, the two-year-old digital bank Sparkle raised $3.1 million to strengthen its business. A few months earlier, in August, Kuda announced it had raised $55 million to expand in Africa. In South Africa, TymeBank raised $109 million last February.

Chamberline Moko