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In sub-Saharan Africa’s $1.5 trillion B2B payments market, the process of sending and receiving merchants uses manual invoices and burdens merchants with inefficient processes that leave them struggling with their business.
Duplo, a B2B payments startup that solves these issues by enabling African enterprises to collect payments from their customers and partners and make payments to their vendors and suppliers, has secured $4.3 million in seed funding. The news comes seven months after Duplo raised $1.3 million in pre-seed investment. In total, the YC-backed startup has raised $5.6 million since Yelle Oyekola and Tunde Akinua launched last September.
The Nigerian startup went live this January with FMCG distributors as its first set of customers. FMCG distributors can onboard retailers across a network of Duplo platforms, collect payments digitally and gain real-time insights into business performance. Co-founder and CEO Yele Oikola told TechCrunch on a call that this distributor-retailer channel has been a source of viral growth for the startup. “A distributor can host more than 1,000 retailers and onboard with Duplo. Those retailers can be Duplo customers. Then it will be easier for us to digitize how payments move between retailers and distributors,” he added.
FMCG distributors can track and reconcile payments while automating payments to suppliers, manufacturers, and suppliers, allowing for faster payments at higher volumes.
Meanwhile, Duplo serves the finance teams of medium and enterprise businesses so that they are not overly dependent on one particular market. For finance teams, B2B payments startups complete invoice generation and processing, invoice receipt and approval, cash collection and disbursement, and account reconciliation. In addition, Duplo integrates directly with accounting and ERP platforms in Nigerian businesses such as SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, QuickBooks and Sage, so Duplo’s payments are synchronized with these platforms in real-time, saving finance teams time and money. Errors and fraud.
“When we think about payments on the continent or in Nigeria, for example, there is a lot of focus on how merchants collect payments from their customers. And what helps startups from a B2B angle is just collect and pay. Still, there is great value in helping them by tracking and reconciling payments in real time, which is where we play a significant role. According to Duplo, businesses can reduce time spent on administrative tasks such as account reconciliation by 50% and payroll-related costs by up to 85%.
While Duplo handles payments for B2B payments in Nigeria, it has received requests in recent months from some of its customers to facilitate payments for businesses outside the country. As a result, the Nigerian startup surveyed 1,000 business owners across Kenya, South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria to better understand their wait times to receive payments from business customers and partners globally. 44% said they had to wait more than 24 hours. 34% admitted it would take up to a week, 17% said they would wait a month and 3% said 30 days as the minimum waiting time.
He said Duplo currently facilitates payments from merchants in Nigeria to other regions such as the US, UK and Europe. According to Oikola, settlement time is 24 to 48 hours. Such product improvements have increased Duplo’s business on its platform by 1,000% in the last three months, and total payment volume (TPV) has increased by 4,200% in the last five months, according to the company.
There is room for further growth, Oyekola insists. While Duplo has a strong accounts receivable arm that allows businesses to collect money through cash receipts and virtual accounts, it needs to improve its account offering, where businesses can schedule payments, generate invoices, and generally optimize the platform for various use cases.
“We’re trying to stretch to new heights,” the CEO said. “We initially started in the FMCG industry; now we have seen interest in the construction industry, telecom and these mid-tier enterprise businesses and we have set the foundation to scale it up across the continent in the next nine to 12 months.”
The seed funding raised to help the company develop new products and expand into new business verticals in Nigeria includes Liquid2 Ventures, Soma Capital, Tribe Capital, Commerce Ventures, Basecamp Fund, and Y Combinator and existing investor Oui Capital. .
“The Duplo team has built an impressive suite of products that improve how businesses pay and receive each other,” said Peter Oriifo, principal at UU Capital. In the year The company’s growth since its first seed investment in 2021 has been nothing short of amazing. That’s why we’re excited to support Duplo again.
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