Kaduna-Based Fintech Startup, Payant Crosses ₦1 Billion Transactional Milestone

0

Payant, a fintech startup that provides online payment solutions, recently announced over ₦1 billion in transactions in less than 2 years of operation.

According to a blog post, Payant’s first transaction was worth ₦500 on the 1st of January, 2017. The platform now boasts around 1,500 users. Lowest and highest single payments processed are ₦1 and ₦400,000 respectively.

Read: WHAT IS FINTECH?

The company is the brainchild of Aminu Bakori and Kabir Shittu and was launched in Kaduna in January 2017 as an African payments tool but has grown in bounds.

Payant was initially billed as just an invoicing and payments solution that allowed users send and receive money directly into their bank accounts, but with time more features were added including Dot, a mobile banking solution, Payant Checkout App and Payant Chatbot for banking transactions on social media.

Read: EFINA HIGHLIGHTS SIGNIFICANT FINTECH OPPORTUNITIES IN NIGERIA (PICTURES)

According to cofounder Kabir Shittu;

“In this period, we have been able to incorporate more payments and invoicing channels. Asides paying with debit cards, users can now add their bank accounts and also pay with USSD. And there is also a portal for school fees collection that has exceeded ₦1.5 million in monthly transactions.”

Kabir says customer acquisition has been one of Payant’s biggest challenges.

“The fact that we are physically located in the Northern part of Nigeria is a cause of potential skepticism in clients. But regardless of this, over 60% of our clients are from Lagos and the South West,” he says. He also cited lack of funding for team expansion as another major issue Payant currently faces.

In 2018, Payant wants to build out its system and improve quality of services offered. On future projections, Kabir Shittu says with its new Dot digital banking platform combined, Payant expects to do more than ₦5 billion in transactions by the end of the year and they are on track.