Nigerian FinTech Tingo Seeks $500M in Expansion Funds, Eyes 2022 IPO

Tingo, a Nigerian FinTech focusing on agriculture, is looking to raise $500 million to expand across Africa, Bloomberg reported Monday (Feb. 21).

According to CEO Dozy Mmbuosi, Tingo is raising a combination of debt and equity financing through a private placement. Mmbuosi added that it’s also in talks with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to list there in the first half of 2022.

Tingo, founded over 20 years ago, has a business where it leases smartphones to connect growers to things like access inputs, credit and markets for their produce. The company also provides an eCommerce platform which has generated $4 billion in transactions per year, according to Bloomberg.

With a new partnership with Visa International, the company will “almost double” its agents to 50,000, and will attempt to provide access to digital payments in rural areas.

“Those with our smartphones will be able to access digital visa cards, not just the plastic ones,” Mmobuosi said.

The new financing will allow the company to create a fund with $100 million to increase credit to mostly women farmers, and the company also has plans to add operations in at least 19 African countries in the next few years.

Mmobuosi said the company plans “to acquire companies and expand infrastructure that will help us become a pan-African business, delivering the same services we’re delivering in Nigeria in many other countries.”

Beyond that, he said the plan is to become a “global company” by listing on the NYSE.

In other agriculture news, PYMNTS reported that Agrim, which works for agri-inputs, has raised $10 million in its Series A round.

Related: B2B Agriculture Platform Agrim Raises $10M

The company, which is based in India, plans to use the money to hire more employees, scale its operations and develop FinTech products.

Agrim’s services aim to let farmers connect digitally to improve their businesses.