FairMoney has completed the acquisition of PayForce, unveiled with the brand name, Payforce by FairMoney. Payforce is Nigeria’s leading one-stop merchants' payment and financial services distribution platform, helping small businesses receive payments seamlessly while earning extra income. This acquisition is fuelled by FairMoney's drive to take on the audacious task of rebuilding Africa’s money story. 

Globally, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) receive cash payments worth more than $19 trillion every year. There is a substantial potential to convert these payments into digital form and charge fees for the service.

In Africa, there are approximately 100 million MSMEs, with 42 million in Nigeria alone. It is estimated that consumer payments in Africa will reach $2.1 trillion by 2025, but currently, only 5% of these transactions are digitized and merchants are faced with the difficulty of collecting payments seamlessly. To capitalize on this opportunity, coupled with the fragmented nature of the African payment landscape and the need for financial inclusion, banks, Fintech firms, and mobile money operators are developing innovative solutions.

With the acquisition of PayForce, FairMoney has taken on the daring goal of increasing its merchant base to 100,000 merchants in Nigeria, while building a robust network of financial services points to aid small businesses across the country. FairMoney aims to accelerate the growth of small businesses in Africa, and also provide them with extra sources of income via selling financial services products.

FairMoney has emphasized that this move is another step forward in achieving its vision of closing the financial inclusion gap in emerging markets while sticking to its promise of providing top-standard financial services to everyday people. "For us, the heroes are the everyday people, small business owners, and their customers who get up every day to chase their goals and achieve their dreams. All we want to do is to be part of their success story and offer them the right support and financial products they need'' said Laurin Hainy, Co-founder, and CEO of FairMoney.

Reacting to the successful acquisition of PayForce, Laurin added that "This acquisition revolves around the power of the ecosystem that we are building in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. We started FairMoney as a lender, but we realized that as we grew, the demand and desire of the people we serve was more than just lending, but a more robust platform that will help them tackle all their financial needs. It became clear to us that the counterparty for our regular users are merchants and small business owners. Merchants and retail are two sides of the same coin, and there is a need to build a larger ecosystem that serves both ecosystems, reducing the number of apps they need to interact with daily. Our mission today has evolved, and it is to Rebuild Africa's money story, by expanding both merchant and consumer solutions and providing cutting-edge financial innovations to the African continent".

Oluwatomi Ayorinde Co-Founder and CEO of CrowdForce, the parent brand of PayForce, also commented on the acquisition saying "This development is exciting for us at CrowdForce, it feels good for the team to be welcomed into the FairMoney family. This move is in line with the expansion and growth roadmap of the business. Our focus at the moment is ensuring the best experience for our merchants and customers, and we are excited for what the future holds for them".

Perella Weinberg Partners served as financial advisor to FairMoney and Renaissance Capital Africa served as a financial advisor to CrowdForce on this transaction.