Nigerian Fintech startup Paga has successfully secured $10 million in Series B2 funding, with the Global Innovation Fund leading the round. This latest investment elevates Paga's total funding to $35 million, marking another significant achievement for the prominent startup on the international stage. The announcement was made by Paga's CEO, Tayo Oviosu, during a discussion with TechCrunch at Disrupt San Francisco.

As part of this $10 million funding round, the Global Innovation Fund will also take a board seat, indicating a deeper partnership. Other notable investors participating in this round include Goodwell, Adlevo, Capital, Omidyar Network, and Unreasonable Capital, highlighting broad confidence in Paga's vision and growth trajectory.

A key focus for Paga following this investment is an ambitious international expansion. Tayo Oviosu revealed plans to launch Paga's payments product in new emerging markets, specifically targeting Ethiopia, Mexico, and the Philippines. Oviosu emphasized that Paga aims not to merely compete with established global players like PayPal, Alipay, and Safaricom's M-Pesa, but rather to construct a payment ecosystem that surpasses them. "Our goal is to build a global payment ecosystem across many emerging markets," he stated, drawing parallels to global success stories like Spotify and Uber that scaled from local origins.

Founded in 2012, Paga operates as a comprehensive platform facilitating money transfers, bill payments, and digital purchases. In Nigeria, Paga has built a robust network, serving over 9 million customers through 17,167 agents and user-friendly mobile apps that simplify person-to-person (P2P) payment processes. The platform also caters to over 6,000 businesses and has processed more than 57 million transactions valued at over $3.6 billion. Paga's products are accessible across iOS, Android, and the widely utilized USSD option, and it boasts remittance partnerships with global entities such as Western Union and Moneytrans, alongside offering third-party integration services for its applications.

Paga's latest funding success is indicative of the vibrant and rapidly growing Nigerian Fintech startup scene. The industry continues to attract substantial investments, fueled by its capacity to develop innovative payment solutions. This trend is mirrored by other Nigerian startups like Interswitch, which is expanding cross-border and pursuing an IPO, and Paystack and Flutterwave, which are also consistently securing global investments, solidifying Nigeria's position as a hub for Fintech innovation.