VCASH Set to Raise USD 20m for Expansion Toward West Africans’ Financial Health

VCASH Set to Raise USD 20m for Expansion Toward West Africans’ Financial Health

VTNetwork Limited, an industry trend-setting fintech and mobile payments operator in Nigeria, will raise USD 20 million from new investors in the coming year to fund its innovative expansion plans.

The company, better known by its brand VCASH, said funds will be invested in several priority areas,

 •  to drive and deepen the business cases for mobile payments agencies,

•  to expand its inward remittance capabilities

•  to develop technical and business partnerships regionally, across West Africa, 

•  to push research into new technologies and new applications and to conduct business using APIs and automation to the extent practical,

•  and to tackle the impossible, the intractable social issues of poverty alleviation and to beat a path toward the average citizen’s financial health.

Mobile payments agencies

Everyone agrees that a vibrant agent network is crucial to financial inclusion in order to bring the services to the people. No single measure is more often cited as a bedrock necessity to building the average person’s financial health than ‘expanding the agent network’. In Nigeria alone this will require hundreds of thousands of agents conducting business in every corner of the federation.

“There must be stronger business cases for becoming an agent”, explained VTNetwork CEO Peter Ojo. “An agent must be able to see profits, if not from Day 1, than from Day 2 or 3. Airtime agents, cash agents and even agency banking agents must be profitable enterprises, with increasing opportunity for the hardest working, otherwise the whole effort will wither on the vine.”

Inward Remittance Capabilities

VTNetwork has the first and only API in the Nigerian payments market that is dedicated for inward remittances. It is in partnership with the biggest and most innovative remittance companies in the world covering about 90% of global players in terms of send volume, with combined physical outlets of over 1 million to seamlessly deliver funds into any bank account and wallets of all mobile money operators in Nigeria.

In Phases 2 and 3 the firm will extend its Inward Remittance API Plan with further capabilities that will bring unseen flexibility for use of received digital funds and unparelled security and AML/CTF capabilities.

Regional Partnerships 

Experts predict that Africa’s macroeconomics would get a rapid boost from improved regional trade, thus efforts toward regional integration, such as customs unions, are now considered a top priority. This trade must be enhanced with digital financial services, which will take real and sustained innovation and commitment from many new partners. From its base in Nigeria, VTNetwork will expand partnerships to capture and unlock cross-border opportunities.

Pushing Boundaries with New Technologies, APIs, Automation

The story of David and Goliath demonstrates that size can be overcome with cleverness, and this has been a necessity for VTNetwork’s Peter Ojo who first began serving Nigeria’s ecommerce industry in 2003. “When I started 13 years ago,” said Ojo, “it became apparent quickly that Nigeria needed at least 10 years to be ready. We weathered the most difficult periods and now ready to put our experiences to work.” This early start led Ojo down a path toward automation, making VTNetwork capable of things of which even the largest and most well-capitalized entities could only dream. While many of these enhancements are internal to its platform and effectively invisible, a consumer-facing example is its automated airtime platform and a B2B example is its Phase 1 remittance API. Fresh funds will go toward an acceleration of these activities.

The Average Citizen’s Financial Health

Historically, Nigeria has seen technology fail and predicted benefits never materialize. “VCASH is now on a launching pad and rapid scaling is imminent, having spent the last few years enrolling subscribers, agents and unifying remittance into Nigeria,” said Mr. Ojo. “Now we must go further, and lead efforts to deliver effective tools that deliver financial health to the average citizen.” VTNetwork has several innovations on its drawing table that tackle the impossible and the further funding will allow development and proofs-of-concept.

About VTNETWORK LIMITED

VTNETWORK LIMITED is a leader in the Nigerian payment services. It developed its platform in 2007 after several years processing transactions led to research into the peculiarities and challenges for electronic commerce in Nigeria. 

VTNetwork recently released an API to unify global remittance into bank accounts and mobile wallets in Nigeria and in partnership with Western Union and other remittance service providers. The mobile payment system has the most efficient agent management module and currently serving thousands of agents nationwide who in turn employ thousands of employees across Nigeria.

VTNetwork is fully licensed by CBN for mobile payments and integrated with Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System for bank settlements.

The platform is unique due to its hybrid nature, the redundancy of its fully-fledged capabilities and management knowledge of Nigerian digital consumers. It serves both m-payment and e-payment needs in the Nigerian market place. For more information, visit www.virtualterminalnetwork.com

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Contact:

VTNETWORK LIMITED

investors@virtualterminalnetwork.com