9 months ago
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Three years aft shelving its archetypal cross-border remittance plans, Nigerian neobank Kuda Technologies has relaunched with a multi-currency wallet that allows Kuda users extracurricular Nigeria to nonstop wealth straight to Nigerian slope accounts.
“The archetypal time, we did not rather get it right, but present we person figured it out,” Nosakhare Oyegun, Kuda’s elder vice president for concern banking, told journalists astatine a media parley connected Monday. Babs Ogundeyi, Kuda’s CEO, and Oyegun were portion of the Kuda unit who spoke to journalists successful a uncommon gathering with the media.
Besides sharing details of Kuda’s Q1 fiscal performance, Ogundeyi disclosed that the institution raised $20 cardinal astatine a $500 cardinal valuation successful 2024, sharing the numbers down its previously undisclosed round.
Why Kuda is going aft remittances
Kuda initially paused remittances owed to its reliance connected intermediaries for remittance transactions, which dampened margins, and the request to physique the merchandise in-house with Kuda’s halfway banking application. Its caller effort is built in-house and wholly successful Kuda’s wallet, which helps Kuda deepen the lawsuit offering successful its ecosystem.
The wallet is presently unavailable to Nigerian users owed to regulatory restrictions connected microfinance banks from processing overseas transactions. For now, it supports the British lb and the euro, with plans to adhd the U.S. and Canadian dollars wrong the adjacent six months, Oyegun said.
After realising that galore Nigerian users who relocated overseas continued to usage Kuda’s app, the neobank is re-entering the remittance marketplace arsenic a mode to amended the remittance acquisition of those users. “I person gone done that myself. It’s not perfect from a idiosyncratic acquisition standpoint,” Oyegun said.
These users often sent wealth to their Kuda accounts oregon utilized the app erstwhile visiting home, but sending wealth done aggregate banks was costly and cumbersome. With its caller multi-currency wallet, Kuda aims to simplify cross-border transfers for its users.
In 2024, Nigeria’s idiosyncratic remittance marketplace rebounded from a flimsy dip successful 2023, rising by 8.9% to $20.9 billion. Much of this maturation was due to the fact that inflows done International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) grew sharply by 43.5%, reaching $4.73 billion, up from $3.30 cardinal the erstwhile year.
With the Central Bank of Nigeria’s caller FX policies, remittance maturation is expected to continue. Startups similar Lemfi, Nala, and Moniepoint are progressively competing with incumbents specified arsenic Western Union and WorldRemit successful Nigeria’s crowded remittance market. As it enters the fray, Kuda is betting connected its app’s convenience and user-centric plan to pull caller users.
“Remittance is simply a highly competitory space, but we’re focused connected convenience. It’s frustrating to person to leap betwixt 3 oregon 4 apps conscionable to marque 1 transaction,” Oyegun said.” Putting everything into a azygous app that radical already use—that’s the existent value.”
Kuda’s Q1 Performance
Kuda’s remittance effort is simply a mode to amended the acquisition of a conception of its users, which continually increases the measurement and worth of transactions with Kuda. In Q1 2025, Kuda processed implicit 300 cardinal transactions totalling ₦14.3 trillion ($9.3 billion) crossed its retail and concern banking arms. Retail banking accounted for ₦8.5 trillion ($5.5 billion), portion concern users processed ₦5.8 trillion ($3.7 billion).
Despite launching its concern limb successful 2022, 3 years aft Kuda’s motorboat arsenic a no-fee integer bank, it contributes 40% of Kuda’s full transaction value, a wide motion of however commercially rewarding it is to service Nigerian businesses. However, owed to Kuda’s concern model, which is built astir frequency, the margins connected serving retail users who execute smaller transactions but successful acold greater measurement mean much revenue.
The fintech besides issued ₦16.4 cardinal ($10.7 million) successful overdrafts successful Q1 2025 (a 43% maturation compared to the erstwhile quarter), which was issued profitably, according to Kuda. While Kuda incurs losses with its recognition product, similar different fiscal institutions, its nett borderline remains positive, ranging betwixt 3% and 7% per month, Ogundeyi said.
“We privation to beryllium capable to springiness recognition to anyone,” said Ogundeyi, Kuda’s CEO. “ Risk-based pricing is the model. The amended your profile, the cheaper your rate. But adjacent if your illustration is riskier, we should inactive beryllium capable to connection credit, conscionable astatine a higher rate.” Kuda users tin not use for loans from the slope but are offered loans based connected however progressive they are connected the bank’s app.
If Kuda continues astatine the aforesaid gait till the extremity of 2025, the neobank volition process ₦57.2 trillion ($37.2 billion) and 1.2 cardinal transactions, much than the ₦55.8 trillion it processed in its archetypal 5 years.
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