This archive report was first published on 14 October 2021.
On October 14, 2021, Sparkle, a mobile-first digital bank, announced the closure of an oversubscribed seed round of $3.1 million from a group of Nigerian investors, including Leadway Assurance and Trium Networks.
This significant investment brings Sparkle's total funding to $5.1 million (2.1 billion Naira), following a previous pre-seed round of $2 million raised from friends and family.
According to Uzoma Dozie, Founder and CEO of Sparkle, the funding will be used to scale the platform's talent teams across engineering, financial risk, and marketing departments, as well as investing in automated back-end processes and digital infrastructure.
About Sparkle ¶
Sparkle is a mobile-first digital bank that provides financial, lifestyle, and business support services to Nigerians across the globe.
Since its launch in 2019, the company has developed a digital-first tribe of users who have access to features such as savings, bill payments, airtime/cable/utility/transport top-ups, and more, all via the Sparkle app.
With triple-digit growth between 2020 and 2021, Sparkle continues to focus on connecting Nigerians and the global Nigerian Diaspora by building a different type of financial services platform that is more than just banking.
Speaking on the round, Uzoma Dozie said, “I’m delighted to be collaborating with a group of highly respected Nigerian businesses, investment firms, and captains of industry – all of whom understand the real need for a digital-first platform such as Sparkle, to bring better access to financial services and, importantly, financial inclusion, to millions more people – for business, for personal means or both.”
