Tiger Global And Greycroft Back Nigerian Investment App Bamboo In $15M Round

Bamboo, an investment platform that allows Nigerians to buy and trade US stocks in real-time from their mobile phones or computers, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round.

Launched in January 2020 by CEO Richmond Bassey and COO Yanmo Omorogbe, the start-up has rapidly grown in popularity with retail investors, claiming over 300,000 accounts in Nigeria.

Its users can access all equities available on the US stock exchanges, that is, the stocks of roughly 6,000 companies. 

Last year, the company launched Powered by Bamboo, it’s API solution that allows asset managers, fintech companies, and other financial institutions to plug into Bamboo’s API to provide their customers access to global securities. The company has been testing the product with a small group of companies and expects to onboard more this year.

US based Greycroft and Tiger Global co-led the Series A round. Motley Fool Ventures, Saison Capital, Chrysalis Capital and Y-Combinator CEO Michael Seibel are some of the other investors in Bamboo’s round, according to a statement seen by TechCrunch.

The round will go towards expanding its offerings across the African continent while part of the funding will be used to scale the company’s tech infrastructure for smoother processes and faster withdrawals.

The next market for Bamboo is said to be Ghana. Over 50,000 users have reportedly joined its waitlist since it announced intentions to launch in the neighboring West African country, the company told Tech Crunch.

Similarly, there has been some demand from Kenya and South Africa.

“Bamboo is enabling Africans to build wealth by creating an investing platform that is helpful to both experienced investors and to those new to the stock market. We are thrilled to support the innovative, user-first approach the Bamboo team is bringing to market,” Greycroft Partner Alison Lange Engel said on the investment to TechCable.