Sudo Africa, a fintech that provides a card-issuing API for developers and businesses in Nigeria, has raised $3.7 million in pre-seed funding. San Francisco-based Global Founders Capital (GFC) led the round. Participating VCs include Picus Capital, LoftyInc Capital, Rallycap Ventures, Kepple Africa, Berrywood Capital, ZedCrest and Suya Ventures. Several African fintech founders such as Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, Ham Serunjogi and Odun Eweniyi are investors in the company too. Like many API-led fintechs, card-issuing API (pioneered by the likes of Rapyd, Ayden and even Stripe globally) is increasingly getting attention from investors who think it’s the next big thing in a sector that has attracted the most VC dollars in Africa.
Its pitch to customers is that while banks take weeks or months to give cards, Sudo Africa takes days. In partnership with licensed card issuers, the company’s infrastructure allows itself and any developer or merchants that come on its platform to issue virtual and physical cards to their customers. And on the platform lets businesses control and program cards to their taste, build their features, and securely integrate with other services. Here’s a granular explanation. Say a company uses Sudo Africa to issue cards for employee expense management; what happens is that employees are given cards with a low balance so whenever they need to use the card, an API is called each time to decide whether to approve or deny that transaction in real time. Sudo customers span several sectors. They include fintechs, microfinance banks, non-tech enterprises, government agencies, logistics companies, commercial banks, and e-commerce companies. Sudo Africa is currently the only player in this space that offers its virtual and physical cards service solely in Nigeria. Union54, despite being based in Zambia, has customers across Africa.