In its initial pre-seed funding round, Nigeria-based Flux — which provides a trans-continental payment platform for both individuals and businesses — raised more than $77,000.
But the company has grown, exponentially, since that time. And now, they’re in a YC startup accelerator to keep up with their growth.
Flux was founded by Ben Eluan and Osezele Orukpe, two software engineers based in Nigeria, back in 2019. At the time, they were completing a project for a UK-based client, but lost most of their payments to charges, and got their payment a week after the client initially sent the funds.
And this is a common problem in Nigeria — and, indeed, most of Africa — who find it difficult to get their payments from national and international vendors. Even on an interpersonal level, people who want to send money to their relatives in Africa may find it difficult to do so without a compliant payment-based platform.
“The experience made us think of the payments and, more importantly, cross-border payments,” Eluan said to TechCrunch. “The gig economy and the service economy for small businesses economy is very massive, and we care about it enough to dedicate all our time into building payments for Africa.”
The company has experienced exponential growth since its initial pre-seed investment, which is why it’s currently in a startup accelerator to meet the growing demands.
Flux only charges 50 cents per transaction, regardless of the amount, and is crypto-based. This means that the sender can send cryptocurrency to the receiver, and the receiver can change it back to their local currency if they so wish.
