Ejara, a Cameroonian fintech startup has raised $8 million in Series A investment led by London-based venture capital firm Anthemis alongside crypto-focused fund Dragonfly Capital with follow-on investors from Mercy Corps Ventures, Coinshares Ventures and Lateral Capital and new investors such as Circle Ventures, Moonstake, Emurgo, Hashkey Group and BPI France as well as Jason Yanowitz, co-founder of Blockworks, an angel investor.
Founded in 2019 by Nelly Chatue-Diop and Baptiste Andrieux, Ejara is offering an investment app that allows users to buy crypto and save through decentralized wallets as well as working to “democratize access to investment and savings products across the region, using blockchain technology.”
Unlike other African crypto platforms, Ejara provides consumers with the option of non-custodial wallets, allowing them to own and store their keys. The startup also supports a variety of non-profit projects to teach the public, particularly women, girls, and orphans, about crypto, savings, investments and financial education, all while preparing the market for growth.
“The initiative we launched for women and orphans and girls is to improve their financial literacy and computer skills. When I think about Ejara, I think about an ecosystem and as a leveller to bring the community together, whether they are in Africa or the diaspora, whether they belong to the elites, or they are in the poorer layers of the community,” said Chatue-Diop.
Ejara currently has over 70,000 users throughout nine Francophone African countries, with 100,000 expected by the end of the year. Despite the global crypto crisis, the fintech claims to have had a 10x revenue increase and a 15% month-on-month transaction volume rise since last October.
“Conscious of the challenges across the zone, Ejara does not intend to limit itself to being a crypto app, but rather to become a one-stop shop for products tailored to the needs of Africans: a shop where a suite of financial products will be accessible at their fingertips, without the need for any crypto knowledge,” stated Ruth Foxe Blader, partner at Anthemis, on Ejara’s potential.
