Nigerian fintech startup, Maplerad has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.
The fund will enable the acquisition of more customers for Maplerad, enhance the process to get additional licenses and build its team, as well as deepen its reach across Africa.
Other investors were Golden Palm Investments Corporation, Michael Vaughn — ex-COO, Venmo, Fintech Fund, Babs Ogundeyi — CEO, Kuda, Armyn Capital, Dunbar Capital, Strawhat Investment, Polymath Capital, Unpopular Ventures, Sean Mahsoul and MyAsiaVC.
Founded by Miracle Anywanwu and Obinna Chukwujioke, Maplerad is a Banking-as-a-service platform just coming out of stealth.
While in stealth, Maplerad processed millions of dollars monthly for over 100 businesses acquired on its platform. These businesses included Pastel, Spleet, Bridgecard, Onboardly, Vella, Crowdforce, Dojah, and GetEquity, among other banks.
Maplerad’s founders first launched WirePay in 2020, helping users make international payments by offering cross-border payment solutions in fiat and cryptocurrency.
Gradually the focus moved to a self-described all-in-one finance product enabling users receive, hold, and make payments in multiple currencies, create virtual and physical cards, and pay bills.
Wirepay raised undisclosed pre-seed funding last year from Golden Palm Investments Corporation, Greenhouse Capital, some Stash executives, and Berrywood Capital, including a $125,000 check from OnDeck.
As Wirepay grew to over 50,000 users, mainly in Nigeria, the need for businesses to leverage the infrastructure powering Wirepay, its license coverages, and banking relationships grew; hence, Maplerad was created.