The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2017–2025
Nala bets its own low-cost rails beat Western Union in Africa; $40M Series A
From local transfers to diaspora remittances to owned payment rails: a $10M seed, a $40M Series A, then a 2025 Kenya launch via Equity Bank and Pesalink.
Nala
What the business is
Low-fee cross-border payments: a consumer app for sending money from the EU, UK and US to 11 African markets, plus Rafiki, its B2B payment rails for banks, payroll and remittance companies.
Starting capital：US$10M seed (2022)
How it started
Founded in 2017 by Benjamin Fernandes to move money within Tanzania; in 2021 he pivoted to remittances from the EU, UK and US into Africa, betting that lower fees and guaranteed delivery could take share from incumbents.
What happened
Raised a $10M seed in 2022, then a $40M Series A in July 2024 led by Acrew Capital with DST Global, Norrsken22, HOF Capital, Amplo and NYCA, plus angels including Chime's Ryan King and Robinhood's Vlad Tenev; launched the B2B platform Rafiki in March 2024 with TransferGo and Cadana among early customers. The consumer app reached 249 banks and 26 mobile money services across 11 African markets, and Fernandes said Nala was already profitable and heading past 500,000 customers, with consumer revenue above 90% of total.
How it ended up
In September 2025 Nala entered Kenya through Equity Bank and Pesalink instead of waiting for a direct Central Bank licence, targeting a remittance corridor that hit a record KSh 640 billion in 2024; it continues scaling and plans expansion into Asia and Latin America.
Background
Nala's bet is that Africa's remittance market is winnable on price and reliability, not brand. Founder Benjamin Fernandes started the company in 2017 moving money within Tanzania, then pivoted in 2021 to remittances from the EU, UK and US into Africa, where the World Bank puts the global average cost of sending $200 at 6.4% of the amount.
The company raised a $10M seed in 2022 and a $40M Series A in July 2024 — one of the largest Series A rounds in Africa — led by Acrew Capital with DST Global, Norrsken22 and HOF Capital. The money went into Rafiki, a B2B payments platform launched in March 2024 that connects directly to banks and mobile money providers and also powers Nala's consumer app; early clients include TransferGo and Cadana.
By September 2025 the consumer app served 11 African markets through 249 banks and 26 mobile money services, and Nala entered Kenya through Equity Bank and Pesalink rather than a direct Central Bank of Kenya licence. Kenya's remittances reached a record KSh 640 billion in 2024, and Nala's COO estimates Africa loses $7.3 billion a year to remittance fees — the wedge the company keeps pricing against.
What has to be true
- Sending $200 across borders costs 6.4% on average globally, and digital transfers are cheaper than cash — a price gap a low-fee newcomer can exploit.
- Reliability of third-party payout rails was the real constraint, so Nala built Rafiki to guarantee uptime and cut its own costs.
- Kenya's remittances hit a record KSh 640 billion in 2024, the country's second-largest foreign-exchange source, making it worth entering through partners when direct licensing is slow.
- With an estimated $7.3 billion a year lost to fees, incumbents like M-Pesa, Western Union and MoneyGram left pricing headroom for a startup.
What can be applied
Nala attacked the fee itself and then owned the rails that deliver the money; building the payout bottleneck in-house turned a thin consumer margin into an infrastructure product.
Aftermath
As of early September 2025, Nala runs its consumer remittance app across 11 African markets, operates Rafiki as a B2B rails product used by TransferGo and Cadana, and is entering Kenya through partnerships with Equity Bank and Pesalink instead of a direct CBK licence. The company says it is already profitable, derives more than 90% of revenue from the consumer app, and is on its way past 500,000 customers, with the next target markets Asia and Latin America.
Sources
- Nala to use $40M Series A to build B2B payments platform, scale remittance services
- Tanzanian Fintech NALA Enters Kenya In Partnership with Equity Bank, Pesalink
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