Six months after joining US investor Y Combinator's mentoring and coaching program, Nigerian fintech Prospa has secured support from venture capital firms and investors, for pre-seed funding.

Prospa, a Nigerian fintech that provides micro and small businesses with financial services and business management tools, has raised $3.8 million in pre-seed funding. The company co-founded in 2019 by Frederik Obasi, Chioma Ugo and Rodney Jackson-Cole plans to use the resource to strengthen its services but also to recruit engineers and sales staff.

The fintech was backed in this deal by Global Founders Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures. Angel investors such as Immad Akhund, Karim Atiyeh, Todd Goldberg, Ankur Nagpal, Rahul Vohra, James Beshara also participated in this fundraising.

“The Prospa team has developed a stellar product serving the needs of Nigeria's entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are the backbone of the Nigerian economy and I am excited to support them through this investment in Prospa,” said Immad Akhund, Founder and CEO of Mercury, a fintech that builds banking services for startups.

The operation comes nearly six months after Prospa was selected for Y Combinator Winter 2021, a coaching and mentoring program developed by U.S.-based startup funding company Y Combinator.

In Nigeria, nearly 40 million micro-businesses are underserved in terms of banking and financial services. Prospa tries to shut this gap by providing entrepreneurs with the ability to open bank accounts with little difficulty and to access tools to start, grow, and scale their businesses.

Chamberline Moko