Nigeria’s wealth management platform, Cowrywise has secured a $3 million pre-seed A funding round to push its product offerings, complete a new investment management infrastructure, onboard more fund managers in Nigeria, broaden financial education program, and continue to hire top talent.
The funding is led by US-based venture capital firm Quona Capital – first investment in Nigeria – with participation from Sahil Lavingia, Tsadik Foundation, and a syndicate of Nigerian angels.
Founded in 2017 by Edward Popoola and Ahmed Razaq, the Cowrywise platform is designed to solve the problem of access by using a combination of free wealth advisory and consumer education paired with savings and investment offerings that can advance financial inclusion.
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“Razaq, Edward, and the Cowrywise team are providing everyday Nigerians with easy access to powerful and flexible wealth-generating tools that have typically been reserved for people who are already wealthy,” Johan Bosini, partner at Quaona Capital said. “In a market of 200 million people, we think this will be very impactful for individuals to have more control over their financial future, we like the wealthtech space and the impact it can have in Nigeria in particular.”
In a statement, Cowrywise said the funding strengthens its vision of making wealth management accessible to everyday people in Nigeria and moves it closer to its medium-term pan-African ambition. It believes that bringing wealth management to the mainstream among first-time, retail investors has the potential to positively impact the financial future of Nigeria which has young demography.
“Change in digital behaviour, innovation in digital infrastructure, and continuous growth in the adoption of digital products have set the stage for a digital-first and scalable wealth management solution for the next generation. We are more than excited to have these tailwinds while we build Cowrywise,” Ahmed Razaq, CEO of Cowrywise said.
The pre-seed funding brings the total money closed by Cowrywise so far to $3.3 million. The firm was first funded by Microtraction and later received support from Y Combinator and Catalyst Fund. The company introduced mutual funds as part of investment offerings. It presently has 19 different mutual funds and at least 20 percent of the total mutual funds are listed on its platform.
On Cowrywise, users can save and invest with as little as N100 (&0.25) with five investment partners including United Capital Asset Management, Meristem Wealth Management, Afrinvest Wealth Management, ARM Investment Managers, and Lotus Capital. Cowrywise earns its fee by indirectly charging customers for the service and share the fee with the mutual fund partners.
