Fintech Startup Cadana secures $7.1 million in seed funding to boost remittance services for African professionals

Cadana, a fintech startup targeting emerging markets, has successfully secured $7.1 million in seed funding to enhance and expedite remittances for African professionals. This funding is poised to significantly improve Cadana’s payroll services, which are tailored for international hiring platforms and financial institutions.

The seed funding round was led by Costanoa Ventures, with substantial contributions from Better Tomorrow Ventures and 500 Startups. Since its launch in January 2021, Cadana has raised a total of $7.4 million, including an initial $325,000 in pre-seed funding.

Co-founded by Albert Owusu-Asare who serves as the CEO, and Ameer Shujjah the CTO, Cadana specializes in simplifying payroll processes for a variety of clients, including talent marketplaces, staffing firms, and human resources providers. The company’s services enables businesses to compensate their workforce across more than 32 emerging markets, with a particular emphasis on countries like Nigeria and Ghana. The company’s mission is to make it more accessible for African talent and those in other emerging markets to tap into global employment opportunities.

With the burgeoning global freelancer market, valued at approximately $1.3 trillion, propelled by over 200 million knowledge workers, this substantial workforce is creating a surge in demand for innovative solutions that can automate payroll processes and simplify the intricacies of employment and tax regulations on a worldwide scale.

Despite this demand, the unique legal challenges presented by African and other emerging markets pose significant obstacles. These markets often have distinct employment laws, which vary greatly from one country to another, rendering many of the current payroll products ineffective or entirely unsuitable.

For global hiring platforms, which typically rely on third-party providers for payroll services, these legal complexities translate into a burdensome responsibility. They find themselves having to navigate and comply with the diverse local employment laws on their own.

Cadana addresses these issues head-on with its innovative application programming interfaces (APIs) and white-label products. These offerings enable global workforces to seamlessly incorporate payment processing and payroll management into their existing systems, thereby circumventing the problems associated with local employment laws and high remittance fees. Cadana’s solutions are designed to provide a more efficient and cost-effective payroll experience for both employers and remote workers in emerging markets.

Source: Innovation Village