A $6 million seed investment for service acceleration and expansion in Nigeria has been announced by Traction, a Nigerian merchant solution platform. P1 Ventures, a venture capital firm, Pan-African investor Ventures Platform, and Multiply Partners, among other investors, have committed to the fresh round of financing.
With Traction, businesses may accept payments, handle accounts, and have access to several features, such as a complete retail POS system, E-commerce, and invoicing. The financial platform also facilitates SMEs’ access to capital to maintain operations.
The founders of Traction, Mayowa Alli and Dolapo Adejuyigbe, stated in a Techcrunch interview that the company was founded to address the financial services challenge SMEs face.
The platform functions as a bank-independent platform that offers an end-to-end sales payment cycle and access to additional services to assist businesses flourish before moving on to other services including merchant wallets, cash advance loans, savings, and bill payment.
Traction concentrates on both traditional and premium retailers, acting as the first point of contact for these two types of retailers—who account for more than 75% of platform users—with digital payment methods and financial services. The company’s platform also offers goods from eating and dining establishments, fast-moving consumer goods, grocery store chains, fashion, beauty, and lifestyle businesses, electronics merchants, and healthcare facilities.
Since its debut in 2020, Traction claims to have attracted more merchants than its rivals in Africa’s largest financial services market. By first distributing POS devices, Traction’s goods provide retail business owners with more direct services than other platforms that mediate through agents. The POS terminals are then followed by software and other business tools.
To provide some of its services, it has partnered with other ecosystem operators. For example, restaurants and hotels may now use their menus and reservation management systems, which are simple to integrate with their payment systems.
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