This fintech provides repair for French Africa's largest cross -border payment issues in French French
Until a few years ago, it was almost difficult for almost anywhere in the world to pay. But this is still a big problem in Africa. In Africa, scattered, disconnected systems, high -cost and poor infrastructure make it difficult for enterprises and individuals to be able to afford money.
Most people and companies still rely on outdated agency networks or strive to deal with mobile wallets. However, it has obvious demand for cheaper and easier alternatives, especially in areas in French in Africa in lack of service.
Ivorian Fintech Cauridor is starting to solve this problem. Recently, it has raised $ 3.5 million of seed funds to continue to establish its payment track to make merchants, banks, telecommunications operators and currency transfer companies move their funds to Africa.
Cauridor said that its platform supports mobile wallets, bank transfer and cash pick -up through more than 25,000 agents of Guinea, Senegal, ivory coast, Sierra Leine, and Liberia. These agents are part of the popular distribution method in the region-they are usually small business owners equipped with sales points (POS) devices, and they have enabled cash deposits, withdrawals and bills.
Cauridor is using a mixed method to solve the problem of remittance-the same way as other financial technology in the region combine cash networks with digital infrastructure to meet local payment needs. Nonetheless, this method can still operate remittance corridors to major markets such as Ghana and Nigeria, and establish group -level contracts with RIA, MoneyGram and Western Union, as well as partnerships with Orange and MTN.
From remittance to B2B payment
Oumar Rafiou Barry, the founders of Cauridor and ABDOULAYE BAH, experienced the challenge of sending money back to Guinea when studying in Canada. They are facing slow and expensive remittances in French Africa, which is a region that the global remittance industry has been serving for a long time.
In 2019, this frustration drives them to start BNB Cashapp, which is a consumer -centric remittance platform for Canadian users to remit money in Africa. This application is directly integrated with banks such as banks, MTNs, and proxy networks equipped with mobile portals to promote cash expenditure.
But with the growth of the platform, the founder encountered a greater challenge: Africa's decentralized and inefficient payment infrastructure. “We have long realized that the French rails in Africa have almost no existence. Therefore, since the payment there is scattered there, we have to enter the payment track in the area,” CEO Barry told TechCrunch.
Feeling an opportunity, the team rotated in 2022 and established a payment guide for the area. By 2023, the company has merged its consumer remittance business and B2B payment infrastructure into the Cauridor brand, just like the operating model of Nala and Rafiki in Tanzania.
The round of returns: More than 90 % of the company's income comes from its payment railway business. The company said that in 2023, Cauridor handled 2 million transactions and recorded a total payment of 300 million US dollars (TPV) in 2024 to $ 500 million.
Competition and Future Plan
Although Barry referred to the main competition of Cauridor such as ONAFRIQ and Thunes, he said that his company is still important because it has established a “no one is watching” markets, such as Guinea and Liberia.
He pointed out that hands -on customer service and pricing also helped them retain customers. Fintech provides customer service to solve mobile currency transactions refused due to incomplete KYC, such as refusal mobile currency transactions. For example, if the recipient can only get $ 10 of the $ 700 payment, Cauridor intervenes to help upgrade his account and ensure that the transaction passes.
Barry believes that the strong local existence of the corridor makes it have advantages in ensuring better foreign exchange profits and pass it to customers. He said that this advantage helped the company attract major customers such as Moneygram. Moneygram converted from competitors to increase interest rates and increase customer support.
Interestingly, competition in the field of cross -border payment does not rule out collaboration. Some competitors of Cauridor rely on their infrastructure in specific regions, as companies like IT and Thunes cooperate to gain global.
Cauridor has about 200 employees worldwide, and has offices on the coast of ivory, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leine, and Liberia.
The seed wheel was led by OUI CAPITAL, a pan -non -venture capital company, and saw the participation of Rally Cap, BKR Capital and some angel investors.
With new cash, the company plans to expand to a new market (it is opened in Mali and Nigeria) to enrich its team and promote marketing. Barry told TechCrunch that Cauridor is also preparing a series of competitions, and explores the blockchain to simplify the settlement and use StableCoins in the field of African cross -border payment.