Mono, an African startup that helps connect consumers’ bank accounts to financial applications, has raised a $15 million Series A round, the company confirmed to TechCrunch today.
The round, led by Tiger Global — the VC firm’s third major investment in Africa this year after Flutterwave and FairMoney — also had participation from new investors Target Global (an investor in neobank Kuda), General Catalyst and SBI Investment.
New investors were joined by existing ones, including Entree Capital, Lateral Capital, Golden Palm Investments, Acuity VC and Ingressive Capital, bringing Mono’s total raise to a little over $17.5 million since launching last year.
More than half of the population is either unbanked or underbanked. Open finance players in Africa like Mono — mirroring Plaid’s success in the U.S. market to theirs — thrives on the notion that access to a financial ecosystem via open APIs will improve access to financial information and lower entry costs for the underbanked.