Paga, Nigeria’s leading money transfer service launched in February 2011, today announced it has secured new investments from Adlevo Capital, Omidyar Network, Acumen Fund, Capricorn Investment Group, and current investors Goodwell West Africa Microfinance Development Company.
Paga was founded in April 2009 with a mission to deliver innovative and universal access to financial services in Africa. Paga received its provisional licence to operate from the Central Bank of Nigeria in November 2010 and full license November 2011. Paga is underpinned by a secure payments platform that is built with the flexibility to operate in any environment and on the most basic mobile phone and Internet enabled device. To maximise the network effects critical for the long-term success, Paga has taken a multi-stakeholder approach and works with strong local banks and microfinance institutions and on all mobile networks. Customers can use Paga via multiple channels – SMS, Online, Java application on a device, and their agent network.
Paga enables any person with a mobile phone or Internet access to send cash to anyone in Nigeria, buy or send airtime credit, pay bills, pay both online and physical retail stores (without cash notes or a debit card), and perform a variety of other transactions. Individuals can also perform these transactions in their communities by visiting any agent in Paga’s growing network, comprising of more than 850 agents currently located in 19 cities.
Since launching to the general public, Paga has processed over 276,000 transactions worth more than N2.6 billion. On June 4 2012, Paga achieved a major milestone and crossed 100,000 unique users. Today Paga has over 125,000 users.
