Today, Nigerian API fintech startup, Mono announced that it has been accepted into Y Combinator’s Winter 2021 batch. It will join 39 other African startups already in the accelerator’s portfolio.
Co-founded in August 2020 by serial entrepreneur — ex-Product Manager, Paystack; CEO, OyaPay; Co-founder, Voyance — Abdulhamid Hassan as CEO and Prakhar Singh as CTO, Mono already has a $500,000 pre-seed backing from VCs like Lateral Capital, Ventures Platform, Golden Palm Investments, Rally Cap, and some angel investors.
By getting into YC, the startup will have access to $125,000 seed fund and other investment opportunities following graduation in March.
Mono founders plan to use this opportunity to validate the product’s credibility while also positioning the startup for global recognition.
This is important as the African market is still riddled with distrust especially when it comes to putting account details online. Hassan believes an affiliation with YC will help dispel these doubts.
The startup would also ride on this influence to further drive product marketing. In the meantime, this could fast track Mono’s expansion plans to Kenya and Ghana.
Mono API helps fintech companies to run a seamless onboarding process through quick account verification, credit history check, spending pattern, and KYC in general. It is able to do this by crawling several financial information from different banks.
In its six months of beta operation, Mono has gotten notable mentions like Carbon, Flutterwave, Swipe, among others to use its API. It is also looking at partnerships with banks in Kenya and Ghana.
Hassan has always shown interest in how important user verification is to financial institutions to prevent fintech fraud especially for lending platforms, and that reflected both in his previous startup, Voyance and now in Mono.
Playing in the same field with other fintech API platforms, like Okra that previously landed $1million in pre-seed investment, Mono appears to be making progress in strides after operating for less than one year.
Perhaps, partly owing to serial entrepreneurial touch and a growing attraction for fintech API products, it remains to be seen how much momentum being a YC graduand can afford the startup.
This content was originally published here.
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