Afrigather Brass, the Nigerian enterprise banking startup that has been receiving criticism from prospects for failing to course of withdrawals on time, has acquired a capital injection from a gaggle of traders, 4 folks with data of the deal advised TechCabal.
The deal, a mixture of debt and fairness, was concluded final week, these folks stated, whereas declining to share the precise funding quantity.
Over the previous couple of weeks, some Nigerian fintech leaders started working collectively to maintain Brass going, stated one particular person with data of the preliminary talks. “Brass is a good product that’s priceless to prospects,” that particular person stated.
“The final word objective of this funding is service supply,” stated an investor who requested to not be named to talk freely.
The brand new capital injection will present much-needed working capital for the startup after it furloughed employees on March 4.
“I’m completely happy to share that we’ve resolved these points, and transactions are working seamlessly as soon as once more,” Brass stated in an e mail to prospects on Tuesday.
On Tuesday afternoon, a number of Brass prospects shared on X that they’d begun receiving pending withdrawals.
Brass didn’t reply to a request for feedback.
Struggles at Brass
Customers started noticing withdrawal delays in October 2023, and Sola Akindolu, the corporate’s CEO, advised TechCabal {that a} main liquidity companion pulled out of a partnership, leaving the startup beneath important pressure.
That companion was a significant Nigerian fintech, stated two folks acquainted with the matter. Till the center of 2023, that fintech provided uncollateralised loans to a number of startups however ultimately discontinued this service.
After it started experiencing liquidity issues, the startup approached Flutterwave for an acquisition, however that deal finally didn’t materialise, sources acquainted with these talks stated. A spokesperson for Flutterwave advised TechCabal there have been no acquisition plans between the 2 startups.
“It’s not in any means new for fintechs to method and assist each other behind the scenes,” Brass advised TechCabal through mail in March.
The startup additionally approached bigger startups like Moniepoint for a capital injection. Moniepoint declined to offer funding to Brass, in accordance with a supply acquainted with these proceedings.
