DJAMO is one of many digital banking startups targeting underground items in Africa. However, unlike many people who focus on large -scale markets such as Nigeria, Egypt, or South Africa, DJAMO has pioneered niche in Franco von Africa, especially ivory coast, and more recently in Senegal. Now two countries provide services to more than a million customers.
Y Combinator-Backed Fintech has raised $ 17 million to expand the product line for the retailer and the product line for thousands of small businesses that have been produced over the past two years.
The largest stock round in IVORIAN Startup surpasses DJAMO’s $ 14 million series A by 2022, reflecting the continuous investor’s trust in the mission that can be accessed and cheaper.
Hassan Bourgi, co -founder and CEO, said he refused a new evaluation but doubled after his last impression.
BOURGI established DJAMO with Régis Bamba, the chief product and technical officer in 2020, to bridge the financial gap in African countries using French. Traditional banks in this area often depend on Mobile Money, a cheap way to accommodate abundant people and that most population uses a phone number to make financial transactions.
Mobile Money played an important role in expanding financial approaches across Africa. As of 2022, 28%of adults in sub -Saharan Africa have a mobile fund account according to the World Bank, which has more than half of the world’s total. But the progress also made a ceiling.
Most mobile money platforms offer basic services such as cash withdrawal, cash-out, P2P transfer and billing. It is useful, but it does not unlock advanced financial tools such as credit, investment or long -term savings.
DJAMO presents a position between mobile money and traditional banks. Startups provide access to mobile funds with depth of bank accounts. It is a similar playbook used to expand the bank account, softbank support Opay and Transsion Palmpay to tens of millions of customers in Nigeria.
The goal surpassed the mobile money wallet, but the traditional banks are still the segments of expensive, old or unacceptable users, most young customers.
“These users are evolving.” But they do not want to go to the place where parents have gone and the agency with plundering prices, and they do not adapt to the new generation of customers. This is trying to be a bank for these huge customers we are building.
Product suite expansion according to demand
Since our last coverage, DJAMO has expanded beyond cards and P2P transmissions. IVORIAN FINTECH now provides a salary bank account that saves safes, investment products and Bourgi are important to promote customer participation thanks to the intermediary license issued by the first Fintech in the region.
Like many Neobanks, DJAMO attracts bank users who handle this as a subsidiary account for a softer billing and mobile funding. But showing a larger long -term potential is non -banking and difficult to activate. The users, who make up more than 55% of DJAMO -based, often handle the app as a major financial service.
Bourgi comes from this category of nine out of ten who use DJAMO in the main account. To approach more people, DJAMO adopts a hybrid approach to combine an offline agent that meets the app in order to promote the transaction with the mobile Money model, which has been adopted by the continent’s Fintechs more widely adopted by the continent.
Currently, only 5-10%of DJAMO users receive salaries through the app. “The next step is to know how to pay Djamo directly from 10%to 50%of the user,” Bourgi said.
Meanwhile, DJAMO is also strengthening services for small businesses, about 10,000 of them started as retailers. According to CTO BAMBA, startups now offer mass payments, payment links and QR code tools, allowing merchants to accept and manage their own payments in the app.
FINTECH generates revenue for the seller fee for the purchase of online cards and the premium class plan paid by 25%of users. Bamba added that the company is seeking additional revenue sources, including interest on loans and customer deposits. It is in the process of securing a license that can provide interest savings accounts and credit products.
The founders of DJAMO say the company has increased sales of five times since 2022 and handled more than $ 4.5 billion since its launch.
With the recent expansion of Senegalo, DJAMO has entered the market dominated by Wave, one of Africa’s largest fintech, known as a cheap mobile fund transfer. However, DJAMO has a complementary service rather than a direct competition, providing a digital banking experience that allows users to store funds and access high -end tools such as savings, investments and credit.
Now, 250 teams, DJAMO, says that new funding led by Pan-African, a gender-oriented VC Janngo Capital, will help to expand these services throughout Africa using French.
FatOUMATA Bâ, the founder and director of Janngo Capital, said, “We are happy to lead the largest VC round in the Ivory Coast and doubled from DJAMO, a mission -oriented fantasy accessibility to financial services throughout Franco von.
“This is an important mission in areas with less than 25% of adults and two times more likely to be excluded for women. As women occupy one -third of the users, DJAMO not only closes the gender gap but also unlocks the scale of economic opportunities.”
Other investors who participate in this round include Sanad Fund for MSMES (Finance in Motion), Partec, Oikocredit, Enza Capital and Y Combinator.
