Accelerex secures $20M investment from ACA, acquires SLS Microfinance

Accelerex Holdings has signed an investment agreement with regional private equity firm, Africa Capital Alliance for the Capital Alliance Private Equity IV (CAPE IV) fund to invest $20 million in Accelerex.

With this investment, CAPE IV will become a strategic partner in Accelerex and will hold three seats on the company’s board.

Accelerex, which is the parent company of African fintech startup Global Accelerex Limited, was set up for investment into digital financial technology companies across Africa.

Global Accelerex was incorporated in 2008 and commenced payments services operation in October 2013 upon obtaining approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The company has consistently been ranked as the number one Payment Terminal Service Provider in Nigeria in 2018 and 2019. It also supports 95% of Nigerian banks and over 90,000 merchants across the 36 Nigerian states.

Accelerex commenced operations in Ghana in 2019 and plans to expand into Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa over the next 24 months with the new investment from ACA. This funding will also drive new product development across the group.

The agency banking arm of Accelerex, Accelerex Network Limited (ANL) is a major driver of financial inclusion in Nigeria. It supports the Federal Government of Nigeria and the CBN’s financial inclusion agenda, targeted at the underserved and unserved segments of the population. Accelerex Network Limited has grown its agent network to over 9,000 agents within the last 12 months and plans to reach 40,000 agents by the end of 2021.

In addition, Accelerex also acquired a majority stake in SLS Microfinance Bank to serve the financial needs of its fast-growing agent banking business.

In 2019, Accelerex acquired a significant minority stake in Connected Analytics (AKA ThankUCash), a fintech platform provider that enables merchants offer loyalty rewards to their customers thereby boosting their sales.

Commenting on the ACA investment, Tunde Ogungbade, CEO of Global Accelerex, said: "I am very excited by the ACA investment. In our quest for the right investment and strategic partner, we were looking for a company that shares our vision to empower businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to exceed all their customers’ payment expectations. This partnership will help Accelerex to aggressively expand into Africa and accelerate product development. I see our vision becoming a reality with this move".

Paul Kokoricha, Partner at ACA, stated that with the huge potential of Fintechs in Africa, good funding and strong expertise are crucial to scalability. "Accelerex strong business model and its agile and dynamic management team makes it the ideal African Fintech group to back. We are thrilled about this alliance and are happy to bring our experience to the board", Paul said.

Accelerex Holdings continuously develops and deploys convenient, secure and innovative financial and non-financial solutions that make life easier.

ACA is a leading pan-African investment firm, sponsoring funds and managing investments in the SSA.

Founded in 1997, ACA has an over 23-year history of investing across multiple market cycles, through five private equity and real estate funds. Its international structure and strong local expertise enable it to raise funds from investors across the globe for investment in specific sectors in the SSA.

CAPE IV is a $570 million fund established by ACA to invest in companies with strong fundamentals and a growth track record in the financial services, technology, media and telecoms, FMCG, energy and various emerging sectors in West Africa.