Mono Grows Nigerian Open Banking Platform Into Kenya

Nigerian open banking startup Mono, which gives customers access to financial data and bank payments for digital businesses across Africa through its infrastructure, has added a Kenyan outpost as the first step of its continent-wide growth fueled by a $15 million funding round last fall.

Mono is an open banking infrastructure company that enables African businesses to access financial data and accept direct bank payments with application programming interfaces (APIs) on a single platform, according to the Disrupt Africa report Monday (July 4).

Its plug-and-play technology allows customers to access financial data from institutions across the continent through a single API, per the report.

The company’s growth into Kenya also means internet businesses can build new offerings and experiences in lending, buy now, pay later (BNPL), finance and asset management, mobile money and other areas.

“Kenya is a thriving East African hub for financial services, with a growing pool of businesses building truly innovative financial solutions,” said Mono CEO Abdul Hassan. “Mono will remove complexities and friction by providing reliable infrastructure that new and existing Kenyan businesses can leverage to plug into the internet economy.

“This launch in Kenya will be its first foray in East Africa; our first step outside the country we began in, almost two years ago. We’re thrilled to be taking these possibilities that Mono provides into more markets, and we’re excited for all we’re going to learn.”

In October, Mono raised $15 million in a fundraising round led by Tiger Global that also saw participation from existing investors Entree Capital, Lateral Capital, GPIC, Acuity VC and Ingressive Capital. Mono has raised $17.6 million to date.

Related: Tiger Global Leads $15M Funding in Nigerian Open Banking Startup Mono

Mono’s open banking technology enables businesses and individuals to gain access to financial information stored at commercial banks. Mono Connect, the startup’s first product, launched in 2020 and gives users the ability to securely link financial accounts and share income, banking and identity data.

The company works with more than 200 customers and partners including Flutterwave, Renmoney, Aella, Credpal, Lendsqr, Float and Payhippo.