The Financial Services Industry in Nigeria is experiencing a tremendous change, as startups and traditional players within the industry continue to leverage new technologies in providing financial services.
With an estimated population of over 193 million, 162 million mobile subscribers, internet penetration rate at 84%, about 104.6 million internet users as of August 2018, and the financial exclusion rate standing at 41.6%, Financial Technology (“Fintech”) opportunities in Nigeria continue to deepen.
In terms of funding, according to the Nigeria Startup Funding Report (Q3 2018), the total amount of investment in technology companies in the country within the periods starting Q1 to Q3 2018 stood at $118,463,785. Interestingly, 73% of this fund was invested in Fintech companies. This is not surprising. In the same 2018, within the Global Fintech space, Fintech companies backed by venture capital raised nearly $40 billion (up 120%) across 1,707 deals globally (up 15%) over the past year. We expect this trend to continue through 2019.
In this edition of Fintech Nucleus (PDF), we start with Finley’s 1836 electric telegraph and deep-dived into the Fintech space and ecosystem. We explore the regulatory framework for the Nigerian Fintech space covering major trends in payments, Insurtech, and Artificial Intelligence, to mention but a few. And with a bias for AI Fintech startups, the authors take a wrap of the Fintech Nucleus with our Fintech feature.
We hope you find this edition of the Fintech Nucleus insightful and informative. If you would like to discuss any of the information contained in this report in more detail, please reach out to the authors.
Download the report here (PDF).
Contributor: Ademola Adeyoju