Dash, Ghana fintech Raises $32.8 Million to build Alternative payment Network

Dash, the Ghanaian fintech platform has raised $32.8 million in seed funding. The seed round was led by New York-based Insight Venture Partners, which is one of the largest of its kind in Africa. 

The company plans to use the money to build an alternative payment network with connected wallets allowing a mobile user to transact with other bank accounts. 

Unlike, other nations that use cards for transactions, the majority of people in the African continent uses mobile money wallets and banks accounts. 

While the mobile money system is unique for the motherland continent, however, there’s no interoperability for transactions between them. According to Dash, the business model can be improved. The company play a role similar to Visa or Mastercard, routing payments through banks and telcos regardless of who issued it.

The founder and CEO Prince Boakye Boampong started the company in 2019. 

“I was blown away by the ubiquity and convenience of mobile money in 2014 when I visited Kenya for the first time. However, there are over 200 mobile money wallets and 100 banks across the continent that do not work with each other,” said Dash, chief executive officer. 

How does it work? 

A Kenyan who uses M-Pesa and travels to Ghana finds it difficult to send money to a Ghanaian who uses MTN Ghana because both mobile money operators don’t permit transactions between each other. 

The same thing can be said with a Nigerian and South African with a bank account that cannot make transactions with an M-Pesa mobile money account or an MTN Ghana account due to the difference in payment ecosystems. Thus, when they travel, they’d need to swap currencies or get necessary bank or mobile money accounts that work outside their home countries.

Dash’s alternative payment network brings together this mobile money and traditional banks and facilitates transactions for consumers and businesses. It doesn’t aim to replace mobile money or banks. Instead, its wallet allows users to access a plethora of services they can’t find on their traditional provider.

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