Cameroon fintech enhancing access to the digital finance ecosystem and enhancing the global economy, Ejara has raised $8 million in Series A investment.
Anthemis, a London-based Venture Capital firm, who also led Ejara’s $2 million seed round, announced last October, and Dragonfly Capital, an investor focused on crypto, led the round.
Other participating investors were Mercy Corps Ventures, Coinshares Ventures and Lateral Capital. New angel investors were Circle Ventures, Moonstake, Emurgo, Hashkey Group and BPI France. Jason Yanowitz, Co-founder of Blockwoks.
With Ejara democratizing access to investment and savings products across the region, using blockchain technology, users can get access to crypto via mobile money accounts, interest on savings, instant global payment, investment in fractions of companies such as Google, Netflix, Meta, Ecobank, etc while earning dividends, among others.
Customers can leverage non-custodial wallets to own and store keys. While other similar platforms were building centralized exchanges, Ejara decided to allow users to own keys if they want to own crypto. This approach saved the company when FTX and other crypto organizations experienced a downturn.
Users on the platform have drastically increased over the last 14 months. Last October, it had 8,000 users from Cameroon, its first market and others including Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, and Senegal. Now, it counts over 70,000 users across nine Francophone African countries.
Ejara has also seen revenue growth 10x and achieved a 15% month-on-month transaction volume growth since last October despite crypto’s meltdown – expects users on the platform to reach 100,000 by the end of the year.
Ejara’s users do not need to set up a bank account to access savings products but rather, can start by downloading its app and depositing a minimum of 1,000 CFA franc (~$1.5). Users can earn up to 10% interest on their two-year deposits on the platform, and is going up against traditional financial institutions with this product.
The company also has a school where users can discover and learn everything needed concerning the fintech ecosystem with endless opportunities and possibilities.
