Half of the 400 million people in Anglophone East Africa are under the age of 25. Over 200 million people in East Africa don't have access to a bank account or mobile money because they don't have a bank account.
Inflation is a regional issue that affects how they save and preserve wealth. The average East African currency is 888-282-0476 888-282-0476.
Not to be confused with the app for teenagers in the US, Bloom is a fintech trying to help Sudanese hedge against the rising devaluation. Customers can save in a stable currency, the dollar, and spend-as-they-go in local currencies with its high-yield savings account, free foreign exchange, and digital banking services.
The company was founded by a group of people. As managing partner at Class 5 Global, a San-Fransisco venture fund that has backed startups like Careem and Meliuz, Oudjidane was central to the VC's efforts in assessing investment opportunities across emerging markets.
At some point, Ismail, who is Sudanese by descent, and Oudjidane, Algerian by descent, joined forces to scout more investments in Africa. After studying different models pioneered by digital-first banks such as TymeBank, Kuda, FairMoney, they found a big gap for building a savings product that helps solve what they think is the biggest problem facing African consumers: inflation and currency devaluation.
Consumers are unable to protect the value of their wealth is the problem that we think is most pervasive. Ismail, the company's chief executive, said on the call that they decided to build a business that helps people save money in the stable currency and spend it in local currency.
They brought on two people with roots in eastern Africa to join the project. The group graduated from Russell Group universities and have worked at a number of companies.
East Africa was found to be the perfect location for the team to start. And more importantly, from Sudan. The Northeastern country doesn't seem to have a vibrant tech community. Last year, the country saw its first foreign investment when Fawry backed Alsoug.
The right way to build a business is to go after the largest opportunity first. Sudan is interesting for three reasons. It was Africa's fifth-largest economy in 2015, according to Ismail.
It has had some economic challenges since South Sudan gained independence. Purchasing power and consumer spending are the highest on the continent. Sudan is probably Africa's most under-invested country from a VC funding perspective and the most important dynamic is that it is a friendly place to do business.
The Export Development Bank is a partner bank that handles deposits. It is a technology, customer acquisition, user experience and marketing partner to the Bank that is the best way to think about Bloom.
Fees are not charged for users to save in dollars and buy and spend Sudanese pounds. Local and dollar cards and a feature where they can receive free of charge from several countries globally are also provided.
People don't hold Sudanese pounds and instead buy dollarized assets like real estate or land in the US. In small amounts of money, you will be able to hold value, as opposed to needing to save huge amounts to buy an apartment or a plot of land.
A week ago, more than 15,000 people signed up for the wait list. The company is working on letting users run outflows later when it builds up enough volumes to create liquidity, but users can only receive money for now.
After receiving early admittance last July, Bloom is announcing that it is part of the Winter 2022, startup batches. The company, which only launched last week from stealth, raised a pre-seed in September from Global Founders Capital, Goodwater Capital and some football players.
The startup plans to expand across the Anglo East African region with the help of a seed round. Koa and Finclusion are YC-backed companies that offer similar services in some markets.
We are from the region. We can navigate the markets and see what appears to be an ambiguous landscape. We thrive in markets that are volatile. The next decade of growth in Africa is beingwiring.
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