One of the companies thriving to ensure financial inclusion is CrowdForce. The startup’s efforts will be facilitated with its $3.6 million pre-Series A investment led by Aruwa Capital Management.
Added to expanding its team, geographical operations and marketing to increase its 7,000-strong active agent network three-fold this year, the equity-and-debt round, which also included participation from HAVAÍC and AAIC, will enable CrowdForce to distribute more point of sale terminals to its partners in the next 12 to 18 months, scaling its financial services within one kilometre, or within 15 minutes, of all Nigerians.
CrowdForce is boosting seamless access to critical financial services, with emphasis on the underserved. The company is actively doing this through its products and services offering, with its proprietary technology and extensive agent distribution network across the country, enhancing its unique competitive advantages.
Launched by Oluwatomi Ayorinde and Damilola Ayorinde, crowd Force leverages partnerships with larger brick-and-mortar businesses such as gas stations and turns them into mobile bank branches that offer float services while storing their cash on a PayForce digital wallet.
The fintech company distributes its POS terminals to businesses such as pharmacies and reseller networks. So far, it has partnered with 19,000 fuel stations, 20,0000 resellers and 6,000 pharmacies to broaden its distribution network, with claims of having the largest liquidity among Nigerian agent banking networks, leveraging more than ₦1.7 trillion via its partners.
CrowdForce charges a 0.6% commission per transaction its partners make across all boards and has been cash positive since 2020 while growing 25% month-on-month to serve 1.9 million unique customers in 25 Nigerian states to date.
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