Nigerian fintech startup Risevest, which provides users with access to global investments and Nigerian stocks, is reportedly in talks to acquire Hisa, a Kenyan startup that offers access to US stocks, according to an exclusive report by TechCabal.
Hisa, founded in 2020 by Eric Asuma, aimed to enable Kenyans to trade both local and global stocks. *Notably, Asuma is also the founder of The Kenyan Wall Street.In 2022, Hisa raised US$ 250,000 in pre-seed funding from angel investors such as Faida Investment Bank, Estonia based VC Startup Wise Guys, Chipper Cash Founder Ham Serunjogi and Majid Moujaled – at a post money valuation of US$ 5 million. Risevest was founded in 2020 by Eke Urum, supported by Ventures Platform and Techstars, and has since then grown to 600,000 users.“We’re always discussing with other companies to see where potential alignments can be created, but for now, nothing is concrete with Hisa yet,” Eke Urum, Risevest’s founder and CEO said. The fintech was licensed in 2021 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Risevest acquired another digital trading startup called Chaka in September 2023. At the time, Risevest said it would keep the two as separate products with separate teams. Like Hisa, Chaka also facilitated fractional trading, which allows traders to trade in less than a whole share and so significantly reduces the barriers to entry.
The move to acquire Hisa is Rise’s expansion plan into the Kenyan market. As the platform is licensed by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), there would be no need for Rise to seek fresh approval.
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