Over 4000 startups applied for the second cohort of the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund. Kyshi emerged as one of 60 beneficiaries. We are thrilled to have come this far as a company and family. It’s been an eventful journey for us all, especially for our CEO, Ayo Akindele. For Ayo, it’s been a 12-year journey.
How and Why We Started
While Kyshi is popularly known to be two years old, it has existed since 2011. Kyshi began as a solution for easy exchange of GBP(£) to NGN(₦) and back, between Nigerians in the diaspora and Nigerians back home. At this time, Ayo discovered the difficulties associated with sending funds for school, business and other purposes. Being an ardent solutions provider, and quite the disruptor we’d say😄, he morphed from providing informal FX solutions for African folks in the UK to creating the Kyshi App.
Since 2011, Kyshi has provided cheap and convenient cross-border transactions for Nigerians in the UK. Kyshi began formal operations during the Covid-19 pandemic. We have grown from a one-man squad that ran its operations through online social communities on WhatsApp groups to an over 20-person team of audacious and ambitious minds across Africa and Europe.
Being a neo bank for Africans, every member of our team is focused on creating a safe environment for the convenient, fast and cost-effective exchange of funds between Africa and other regions of the world.
Our Mission
We want to keep providing a safe, convenient and efficient way for Africans to exchange currencies across borders. We intend to seamlessly connect as many countries as possible to Africa so that Africans can send money back home easily and quickly.
Where We Are Now
Right now, we are not just a regular peer-to-peer exchange platform; we are a Neo Bank! We have a wide range of online financial services that suit the needs of our customers – ideally, anyone who wants to transact with Africa. Currently, we cover 20 countries in Africa and the whole of the United Kingdom.
We have partnered with banks in Africa and Europe to provide licensed and top-notch services. So far, we have processed several millions of dollars through the Kyshi App with over 26,000 users, nearly 70,000 downloads and an average growth rate of over 65% month over month.
Our team of valiant individuals are functional round the clock and ensure that our customers enjoy smooth, safe, and speedy international transactions. And, also make certain that our users can create their accounts instantly, and easily access their transaction records.
Among our many feats, we emerged as one of the 12 top-performing companies at Techstars Toronto's Second 2021 Class. Now in 2022, we were among the 60 selected Google Black Founders Fund Africa winners out of 4000 applicants. And we look to achieve more!
Where We Are Going
Kyshi is a neo bank for every African across the globe. Hence, we are gradually but steadily unrolling a suite of products and services that will allow us to penetrate new markets in regions like North America, Latin America, the EU, Canada and virtually every part of the world. On this note, we are happy to announce that we have our USD feature launching soon. This will aid us in meeting the demands of the global challenges we’re taking on.
That’s not all. We are expanding our roots to working with unicorns in and out of the African tech space and companies in other industries within and outside Africa. As for competitors, we are looking forward to not just competing, but partnering with them to create a better environment for foreign exchange between Africa and the world.
So, yeah!
Looking back to where we’ve come from, we are thrilled about this achievement as it signifies a huge milestone we have covered. While we look forward to developing this community with other incredible startups. Our Google fund and resources will aid us in making cross-border transactions easier for Africa and Africans globally.