According to a report from Bloomberg, the Africa-focused fintech company, Chipper Cash funded by Silicon Valley Bank and cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is currently weighing options for a sale or seeking new investors. The company had previously considered these options even before SVB’s collapse, but no final decision was made, and no choice was considered favoring. Although the company stated that it has never been approached to be acquired, it acknowledges receiving numerous M&A proposals from different parties, which they assess to varying degrees.
The CEO of Chipper Cash, Ham Serunjogi, stated in the midst of the SVB controversy that SVB's collapse will not have an influence on its global client operations and that it still has numerous investors and banking links in the US.
With the current market state, Chipper Cash’s consideration to sell or seek new investors might be to alleviate liquidity shortages and avoid unnecessary bankruptcies that may follow.
As a Pan-African cross-border payments platform and SVB client, Chipper Cash like many African tech companies depends on US capital for many reasons.
One of which is to mitigate the effects of currency devaluation and regulatory uncertainty.
Also, the services provided by SVB, such as banking services and funding, could be hard to replace immediately. This may prompt many startups to seek other investors or a merger acquisition to keep their operations and financial management afloat.
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