FINTECH AFRICA | Nigerian Fintech Firm Pivo Closes Within A Year of Funding
After obtaining a $2 million seed round, Pivo, a Nigerian fintech company that offered banking services to small supply chain companies, is shutting down after a year.
Pivo was a startup that was founded in July 2021 by Nkiru Amadi-Emina, the CEO, and Ijeoma Akwiwu, the COO. It offered banking services that were especially designed for small haulage and logistics companies in Nigeria’s supply chain industry.
According to BitKE, the Nigerian startup declared the conclusion of a $2 million seed round in late 2022, with participation from a number of investors, including:
- Precursor Ventures
- Vested World
- Y Combinator
- FoundersX, and
- Existing investor, Mercy Corp Ventures
The startup announced that in addition to developing new products, it would look into entering the East African market.
Pivo set out to help companies in the African supply chain overcome the problems with liquidity by providing financing options. This included assistance for clearing and forwarding companies, distributors of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and logistics service providers.
The business sold two main products:
- Pivo Capital, which offered lending products
- Pivo Business, a business banking product
After just one year of operation, the business announced that it had processed over $4 million through Pivo Business and disbursed over $3 million in loans through Pivo Capital.
Pivo provided credit to companies in the supply chain industry, especially those who needed money from lenders to complete transactions before getting paid by purchasers. Before granting credit, the startup established a validation procedure with potential customers to confirm the validity of the transactions.
The company claims that this strategy helped them achieve an astounding 98% repayment rate.
The demise of Pivo fits a pattern among African startups that will have difficulties in 2023. In 2023, a number of startups on the continent closed. Over a dozen African startups have closed as a result of the difficult environment the economic downturn and widening funding gap have created.
