Kora
FormerlyKoraPay
TypeFintech
Founded2017
FounderDickson Nsofor
HeadquartersOntario,
Canada
Area served
Africa
Key people
Segun Adeleye (Chief Technology Officer), Olaoluwa Eweje (CISO), Enyioma Madubuike (CLO), Ayodeji Osisanmi (COO)
ProductsPayins, Payouts, Settlement
Number of employees
110
Websitewww.korahq.com

Kora is a pan-African payment infrastructure company headquartered in Canada with offices in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.[1] The fintech company enables local and global businesses to accept payins, make payouts, and get settled across popular payment channels across Africa.

History

Dickson Nsofor founded Kora in 2017.[2] Later on, Gideon Orovwiroro,[3] Bryan Uyanwune[4] and Ayodeji Osisami joined him as the first employees.

At the time, the company focused on building financial tools for NGOs to disburse funds utilizing the blockchain technology. The idea for the company came from Dickson Nsofor, who was at the time working for a fintech in London, HumanIQ, providing a solution to the problem of 60% of the world's population lacking full access to financial services.[5]

Growth

Kora started as a remittance business.[6] In 2019, the decision was made to pivot, making Kora into a B2B business that now offers the services it does. That same year, the company attended Techstars Toronto.[7]

In 2022, the company received a commercial PSSP license from the Central Bank of Nigeria.[8] Later in the year, Kora expanded to the United Kingdom by partnering with the municipal government in Birmingham to open its first fully operational UK office.[8] At the 2022 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, Kora was announced as a new Commonwealth-sourced foreign direct investments (FDI) project for the West Midlands.[9]

Dickson Nsofor on stage
Dickson Nsofor CEO of Kora on centre stage ahead of the opening night of Collision 2019 at Enercare Center in Toronto, Canada.

In July, the company was accused of fraud in Kenya,[10] but the charges were dropped a few months later after investigations revealed no wrongdoing on the part of the company. Both Kenya Asset Recovery Agency and the Kenyan Department for Criminal Investigation found no evidence of fraud in the company's operations. In one court document drawn and filed on the 19th of October 2022 by state counsel Stephen Githinji on behalf of the ARA director, the agency said that it had withdrawn its entire lawsuit.[11]

Services

Kora offers a payment application programming interface (API) to companies that give them access to a suit of products and services including, Checkout, Payout, Payment Links, Virtual Bank Account, Dynamic Virtual Bank Account, Fixed Bank Account, mobile money payments acquiring, card acquiring, bulk payout,[12] etc.

References

  1. ↑ Dosunmu, Damilare (2022-06-22). "Kora expands into the UK". TechCabal. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  2. ↑ Guarda, Dinis (2017-12-01). "Blockchain For Africa! Interview with KORA CEO Dickson Nsofor That Raised $1m Before Pre-sale". IntelligentHQ. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  3. ↑ "After $12m ICO, Kora wants to become the first $5b tech startup in Africa". Techpoint Africa. 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  4. ↑ "Bryan Uyanwune". F6S. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  5. ↑ Baker, Lee (2017-07-31). "Humaniq sets out plans to open up opportunity to all". Medium. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  6. ↑ BusinessDay (2019-03-28). "Korapay is Changing the Game for International Payments into Africa". Businessday NG. Retrieved 2022-11-21. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. ↑ Kene-Okafor, Tage (2021-10-18). "More African startups get into Techstars Toronto". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  8. 1 2 "From Nigeria to the UK, businesses 'go local in Africa' with Kora". Ventureburn. 2022-07-04. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  9. ↑ ResearchFDI (2022-10-21). "New FDI Projects Secured for the West Midlands". ResearchFDI. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  10. ↑ Ogemba, Paul. "Court freezes Sh45m in Nigerian firms' accounts". The Standard. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  11. ↑ Eleanya, Frank (2022-11-24). "Kenya's ARA clears Kora of wrongdoing in money laundering case". Businessday NG. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  12. ↑ "Korapay Public APIs (Published)". Korapay Public APIs (Published). Retrieved 2022-11-21.


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