Boampong was in Kenya and witnessed the way most unbanked Kenyans were sending money and paying bills with M-pesa.įirst launching in 2020, Dash has created a unique alternative payment network that brings together mobile money and traditional banks, to facilitate the processing of transactions for consumers and businesses. The startup has processed over US$1 billion since its launch in 2020 from 1 million customers the company has acquired from Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.Dash, a Ghanaian payment platform has secured $32.8 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by various partners.Ī Ghanaian unified and accessible payments app, Dash has raised $32.8 million in an oversubscribed seed round headed by Insight Venture Partners, global private equity and venture capital firm based in New York, with participation from Global Founders Capital and 4DX Ventures.ĪSK Capital, Techstars, Guillaume Pousaz’s Zinal Growth Partners, Jitendra Gupta of Jupiter Money, Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs, Moss founders, ProcessOut executives (bought by ), and PennyLane founders are among the other investors in the round.ĭash aims to utilize the funds to expand to new markets such as Tanzania and South Africa, as well as get the licenses necessary to operate there, build out its team, invest in technology, and launch new features.ĭash was founded by Prince Boakye Boampong with a bid to create a unified payments app to increase efficiency and accessibility for the estimated 1.3 billion Africans currently transacting via digital payments. The revenue from these avenues paints a bright future for the startup as its volume of transactions increases. “ We’re building this interoperability so a Kenyan traveling to Ghana or Ghanaian traveling to Kenya would be able to pay for stuff without having to change currencies or setting up accounts when they touch the ground,” said Boampong. This means mobile wallet users in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya, where Dash’s service is operational for now, can connect their bank or mobile money accounts to Dash, pay bills, and send and receive money to other users while the platform handles currency conversions.
Just like Visa or Mastercard, Dash routs payments through banks and telcos regardless of who issued it. Boampong reported a case where M-Pesa users in Kenya find it difficult to send money to a Ghanaian who uses MTN MoMo in Ghana because both mobile money operators don’t permit transactions between each other.ĭash’s idea is to create a network where mobile money and traditional banks can rapport and facilitate transactions for consumers and businesses. “ There are over 200 mobile money wallets and 100 banks across the continent that not work with each other,” said Prince Boakye Boampong, CEO Dash.
The startup was founded by Prince Boakye Boampong in 2019, who was inspired by the boom of mobile wallets-based payments he witnessed in Kenya back in 2014.īoampong, who is also the founder of OMG Digital, a YC-backed Ghanaian media startup, saw the lack of interoperability in the booming mobile wallet-based transactions across Africa as huge friction that needs to be fixed. The startup will use the fund to expand to new markets such as Tanzania and South Africa, get the licenses needed to operate there, build out its team, invest in technology, and launch new features. The deal, which ranks among the largest in Africa, will help in building a Mastercard and Visa sort of intermediary services for mobile payment wallets across Africa. The round was led by New York-based Insight Venture Partners, with participation from Global Founders Capital and 4DX Ventures, ASK Capital, Techstars, Guillaume Pousaz’s Zinal Growth Partners, and others.
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