One of Africa’s fintech giants, Chipper Cash, is said to be weighing whether to sell the business or attract new investors. According to the CEO of FTX and the Silicon Valley Bank-backed fintech startup, Chipper Cash had negligible exposure to both SVB and Signature Bank.
Chipper Cash ‘never sought to be acquired’
Chipper Cash, the African fintech giant backed by FTX and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), is weighing options that include selling the business or attracting new investors, according to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources. According to the report, the fintech, which began exploring its options before SVB’s abrupt collapse, has yet to make a final decision on what course of action it will take.
As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News in late 2021, Chipper Cash successfully raised $150 million in a Series C extension that was led by the now-collapsed crypto exchange FTX. SVB, which led the first Series C, also participated in the round as did Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos Expeditions, One Way Ventures and Tribe Capital.
However, following a turbulent 2022 culminating in the collapse of FTX, Chipper Cash saw its valuation drop from $2 billion in Q4 2022 to $1.25 billion in December 2022. With rising costs, Chipper Cash also cut its workforce.
Negligible exposure to BLS
Meanwhile, the closure of SVB by the US authorities has reportedly fueled speculation that SVB client Chipper Cash would be hit hard by the bank’s demise. However, in a statement sent to Bloomberg, Chipper Cash insisted that the owners never considered selling the business.
“It has been quite common practice for us to receive various M&A proposals from different parties, which we evaluated to varying degrees. That being said, we have never sought to be acquired,” the fintech allegedly said.
On his March 12 message For interested parties, Chipper Cash co-founder and CEO Ham Serunjogi claimed that the fintech unicorn had negligible exposure to both SVB and Signature Bank. At the time of the SVB collapse, Chipper Cash had about $1 million in the bank.
Serunjogi also sought to downplay SVB’s perceived influence on the fintech by pointing to the collapsed bank’s equity stake in Chipper Cash.
“SVB was not the only investor in that round, we had several other new and existing investors participate in the $100 million round, and SVB owns a very small ~2% stake in Chipper. Chipper is very fortunate to have a very broad and supportive investor base that has supported us since our early days and continues to do so today,” said the CEO.
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