Nala raises $40 million to support global expansion

The Series A round was led by Lauren Kolodny, co-founder of Acrew Capital, with involvement from DST Global, Amplo and past investors

London-based money transfer firm Nala has raised $40 million in funding to support its global expansion and enhance the reliability of payments to Africa.

The Series A round was led by Lauren Kolodny, co-founder of Acrew Capital, with involvement from DST Global, Amplo and past investors.

It also saw participation from notable fintech founders such as Ryan King of Chime, Vlad Tenev of Robinhood and Niklas Adalberth of Klarna.

Nala said it would use the money to launch its own payment rails and develop a “robust payment infrastructure” for Africa. The company declined to comment on what valuation it had raised the funds at.

The fintech’s app enables users domiciled in the European Union, UK and US to make payments to 11 African countries. Nala hopes to widen its consumer remittance offering beyond Africa “for the global migrant diaspora”.

It is also building a B2B platform that it said was “designed to lay the payment rails for the next billion users” and enhance payments in Africa similar to how dLocal and AirWallex have “revolutionised” markets in Latin America and Asia respectively.

Nala hit profitability in 2023 after growing its revenue tenfold. It serves nearly 500,000 customers and employs more than 100 staff.

The firm previously raised $10 million through Accel, Amplo, and Bessemer Partners in 2022.

Benjamin Fernandes, Nala’s founder and chief executive, said the latest round marked “a pivotal moment” for the business.

It will enable us to go beyond remittances and extend our reach beyond Africa, building a robust payments ecosystem. We are reinvesting this money to enhance our infrastructure, ensuring reliable, low-cost payments for all, he said.

With the launch of our own payment rails and the expansion of our business-to-business platform Rafiki, we are not just talking about change – we are building it. We have got some bold, ambitious plans. Give us a couple of years, he added.