Cellulant

Cellulant is a pan-African payments technology company that provides a single API payments platform for businesses to collect and disburse funds. Co-founded in 2003 by Ken Njoroge and Bolaji Akinboro, the company originated with an idea sketched on a napkin to build a billion-dollar business in Africa on a $3,000 budget. The initial business model focused on mobile content, selling ringtones and music news through carrier networks in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Ghana. Encountering challenges with mobile payments led to the company's first pivot. They identified a larger opportunity in digital banking services, building a platform that allowed bank customers to perform simple actions like checking account balances, which was a significant step at the time.

The company's journey reflects a series of strategic shifts. In 2008, Cellulant deployed the first mobile banking solution on USSD for Standard Chartered Bank. A major milestone occurred in 2012 when Cellulant developed an e-wallet system for the Nigerian Government's Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme to digitize fertilizer subsidies. This platform, later branded Agrikore, eventually reached over 17 million farmers. This success in the agricultural sector, merging financial technology with farming, earned the company recognition, including the "Best Payments and Transfer Company – Africa" at the African FinTech 100 Awards in 2016. After 18 years, co-founders Ken Njoroge and Bolaji Akinboro transitioned from their operational CEO roles in 2021, ushering in a new leadership phase.

Cellulant's core business revolves around its payments platform, Tingg, which enables businesses to accept payments online and offline from a wide array of methods, including mobile money, local and international cards, and bank transfers. The platform is designed to solve payment fragmentation for merchants operating across Africa by providing a single point of access to over 370 payment methods. Cellulant serves a diverse client base, including airlines, e-commerce platforms, ride-hailing services, retail, and remittance companies such as Emirates, Bolt, and Jumia. Its business model generates revenue primarily through transaction fees, service charges, and partnership revenue sharing agreements with banks and mobile network operators.

The company's funding history includes a Series A of $1.5 million in 2011, a Series B of $5.5 million in 2014, and a landmark $47.5 million Series C in 2018. This Series C round, led by TPG Growth's The Rise Fund, was Africa's largest fintech funding round at the time and included investors like Satya Capital and Endeavor Catalyst. By 2018, the platform was active in 11 countries, serving approximately 40 million users and over 120 financial partners. Cellulant's infrastructure now powers payments in numerous African markets, processing billions of dollars annually and demonstrating a focus on building a comprehensive payment network for the continent.

Keywords: Pan-African payments, fintech, digital payments, mobile commerce, payment gateway, Tingg, online payments, offline payments, mobile money, cross-border payments, payment processing, emerging markets, African tech, financial inclusion, e-commerce payments, merchant services, payment infrastructure, API platform, digital banking, Agrikore, agriculture payments, B2B payments, payment solutions