Duplo, a Nigerian fintech backed by Y Combinator, has raised $1.3 million to digitize payment processes for B2B businesses.
Oui Capital, an early-stage pan-African venture capital firm, led the pre-seed round to help the company expand. MyAsia VC, Y Combinator, Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, and Mono CEO Abdul Hassan were among the local and international investors who took part.
Duplo will spend the investment on improving its product, tech and sales as well as move into other sectors asides from FMCG retail to businesses in travel, farming, B2B marketplaces, alcohol and beverages.
Duplo was founded in September 2021 by Yele Oyekola and Tunde Akinnuwa to help businesses in Africa simplify their payment flows. Distributors can create unique virtual accounts for retailers and agents to use to make real-time payments or bank transfers, and the platform will automatically reconcile their books.
Duplo charges a 1% fee for every transaction performed on its platform. And depending on their size, businesses also pay between ₦100 (~$0.20) to ₦1,000 (~$2.00) to create virtual accounts.
There is a no-code solution for B2B companies to optimize trade with their business clients, vendors, and suppliers, in addition to products that enable B2B companies to automate their payment flows.
Customers reported cost savings of more than 12% during the three-month pilot phase, according to the company, which launched it three months ago. Duplo has also increased by 60% month over month to serve over 20 enterprise businesses. Currently, it has processed over $380,000, but according to the CEO, Duplo expects to reach $40 million in annualized TPV by the end of Q2.