ThankUCash secures $5.3m to expand across Africa, build infrastructure for new services

Nigerian fintech startup, Connected Analytics, promoters of ThankUCash, announced that it has finally closed a $5.3 million funding round, which included an undisclosed seven-figure seed last year.

The funding round which started early last year, was led by VC firms 500 Global and Unicorn Growth Capital. Other participants included Expert Dojo, Predictive VC, SaaS Growth Ventures, Betatron Venture Group, Accelerex Holdings. It also included individual participants like Andrew Dell, former HSBC CEO and Craig Fenton of Google UK.

Founded in 2018, Connected Analytics helps businesses and banks integrate data analytics and rewards in order to retain customers and increase revenue. Founders include Madonna Ononobi, Simeon Ononobi, Suraj Supekar and Harshal Gandole.

ThankUCash is a platform developed by Connected Analytics to create solutions that help Small and Medium Scale Enterprises succeed while increasing consumer buying power and opportunities.

The company intends to use the investment to expand across Nigeria — where it currently operates in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja — and outside to another West African country, Ghana and enter into the East African market beginning with Kenya. It also wants to improve its product offerings and increase its staff strength to manage its growth.

The company has hired Kiki Anku, an ex-Apple employee and serial startup founder, to grow its operations in Ghana and Aaron Tindiseega to head its operations in Kenya and the East African market.

The company’s  CEO, Simeon Ononobi, says that ThankUCash has recorded over 600,000 users and onboarded over 1,000 stores on its platform. It also claims to have processed over $80 million in transaction volume.

Simeon says that the company is building an infrastructure for companies that want to offer similar services as ThankUCash. Such services include rewards, loyalty, deals, buy now, pay later, cashback.

According to Simeon in a call with Techcrunch, “Cashback was our low hanging fruit and an entry point. We’re still going to go into deals, couponing, gift cards, buy now, pay later, anything that will help the business grow, but at the same time, allowing the consumer increase in opportunities of buying.”