The startup has acquired a money lending license in Uganda and taken part in programs such as the Google Launchpad Africa accelerator, CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa, the Westerwelle Young Founders Program, and the Ecobank Fintech Challenge.

In November 2019, competing against 1,700 companies, it was named winner of the Helsinki-based Slush startup competition.

Eversend launched its Seedrs campaign targeting a raise of EUR550,000 (US$613,000) in return for 7.67 percent equity but has already raised 115 percent of that total with a few weeks of the campaign still to run. It has already secured EUR634,000 (US$706,000) in return for 8.74 per cent equity, valuing the business at EUR6,616,739 (US$7,373,065).

According to the startup’s founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Stone Atwine, the Seedrs campaign was part of a fundraising round that would also include institutional investors.

“It’s a great way to create a community of user investors. There’s nothing better than customers owning a part of the business,” he said.

Eversend will use the funds for product development, user acquisition, and regulatory compliance, while it also intends to expand its offering to Nigeria, Francophone Africa, and Europe. Some of the funds will remain in company accounts as working capital to beef up Eversend’s netting off reserves.