Small companies have often shown reluctance in issuing debit cards to customers because of the costly, slow and rigid process that is involved. In doing so, the businesses lose out on the immense opportunities that come with debit cards.
Sudo Africa, an open API platform that lets users embed powerful financial features into their products, plans to democratise debit card issuing in Nigeria and Africa. The company is therefore offering programmable cards and making them affordable to all types of businesses regardless of their size or revenue level. The card enables businesses to build unique features with an open application programming interface (API) and a readily available sandbox environment. This allows them to start issuing physical and virtual cards within days and not months.
On Thursday, Sudo announced that it has raised $3.7 million in pre-seed funding led by Global Founders Capital, a San Francisco-based VC. Participating in the round were Picus Capital, LoftyInc Capital, Rallycap Ventures, Kepple Africa, Berrywood Capital, ZedCrest and Suya Ventures.
Founded in 2020, Sudo Africa was born out of its founders’ Aminu Bakori and Kabir Shittu, frustration over card issuance challenges faced at a previous start-up. The recognition that other founders experienced the same problem deepened their conviction to launch the service.
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“We tried to get customized debit cards at our previous startup and could not believe how incredibly hard the process was. And we decided to fix this major headache for other founders and make sure they never go through the unnecessary strain. It is almost unbelievable but even as I speak to you, we still have not gotten the cards and it has been more than two years,” said Aminu Bakori, CEO of Sudo Africa.
Sudo’s simplified card process allows small businesses to issue them to staff and customers to carry out different transactions. The debit cards can also be used for loyalty programmes for customers, management services for corporate expenses, buy now and pay later schemes for retailers, digital wallets for virtual banks, among other use cases.
“In terms of pricing, with a flat monthly fee of N50,000, companies can get onboarded and create virtual cards as low as N50 and physical cards for as low as N1,000,” said Kabir Shittu COO and co-founder at Sudo Africa.
The new funding will be used to enter new markets across Africa, expand the current team, and engineer marketing and growth.
This funding round was led by Global Founders Capital (GFC), other investors are Picus Capital, LoftyInc, RallyCap Ventures, Kepple Africa, Ventures Platform, MSA Capital, Future Africa, BerryWood Capital, ZedCrest, Suya Ventures, and fintech founders from around Africa.
