Paga ranked on the 2017 global Fintech 250 list

Paga, Nigeria’s leading payments and digital financial services company, has been named by CB Insights (CB) to the prestigious Fintech 250, a select group of emerging private companies working on ground-breaking financial technology.

Founded in 2009 and launched to the market fully in 2012, Paga is Nigeria’s leading payments and digital financial services company with a mission to transform lives by delivering innovative and universal access to financial services.

“This recognition is for our team and investors and is a great recognition of our progress to date,” said Tayo Oviosu, Founder and CEO of Paga. “Paga is well on its way to bank the millions of unbanked in Nigeria and solve the payment challenges of all Nigerians – both banked and unbanked. We are doing this by taking a multi-stakeholder approach as we build out a robust ecosystem.”

Oviosu said that the ecosystem is anchored by Paga’s strong network of over 12,000 women and men agents who are entrepreneurs in their local communities. 

CB Insights CEO and co-founder, Anand Sanwal, revealed the Fintech 250 companies during The Future of Fintech, a gathering of the world’s largest financial institutions, best fintech start-ups, and most active venture investors.

“The financial services industry will see more change in the next 10 years than it has in the last 100,” said Anand Sanwal, CB Insight’s CEO. “And this transformation is being driven by a group of smart disruptive start-up companies.”

Sanwal said that the Fintech 250 are the most promising of these tech ‘insurgents’ as they are bringing emerging technologies and business models to financial services, with the prospect to permanently change the way people handle money and do business.

Many Nigerians struggle with two financial problems: ease of payments and access to financial services. Paga addresses these challenges through two channels.

One of these is the online/mobile with a short code payment platform (*242#), which is accessible on any mobile phone, mypaga.com as well as mobile apps. The other is its network of over 12,000 retail agents across 36 states in Nigeria.

In just over 4 years, Paga now has 6 million users on its platform. The CB Insights research team selected the Fintech 250 companies based on several factors including data submitted by the companies and the company’s Mosaic Score. The Mosaic Score, based on CB Insights’ National Science Foundation-funded algorithm, measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies. Through this evidence-based, statistically-driven approach, the Mosaic Score can help predict a company’s momentum, market health and financial viability.

Companies such as Affirms, Stripe, Robinhood, Acorns, Nav and Blue Vine are also being recognized for their innovative technology in front of an audience of 1000 senior executives from around the world and news outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Reuters and Bloomberg.

Bunmi Banjo