Jeff Gasana, a Rwandan angel investor and owner of COMZAfrica has invested US$50,000 in MERGIMS, a mobile application that connects migrants back to merchants in their countries of origin so they can buy stuff such as electricity and airtime for relatives at home.
The investment was secured during the Transform Africa Summit, a platform that brings together Africa’s top political and business leaders to shape Africa’s digital transformation, which took place in October 2015 in Kigali, Rwanda.
The MERGIMS team will use the funds to develop its iOS and web apps that will be released before the year runs out, and also to help it prepare for expansion in the coming years.
Also, MERGIMS is currently looking for growth money, preferably from a VC firm with connections in the Fintech industry or Banking sector, in the region of US$150,000, which it plans on using to invest in more sophisticated features and to reach more potential clients in a well-planned marketing strategy.
This year has been a really incredible one for MERGIMS. In January, it secured US$20,000 from African Angel Network and in mid-June, it secured a US$20,000 grant from Creative Hub Rwanda, a non-profit organization.
To crown it all, it won the Rwandan leg of the Seedstars World startup competition in August 2015, getting the sole ticket available to compete with other African and regional winners at the global finals of the startup competition in Switzerland next year for a juicy sum of US$500,000 in investment (just what it needs to reach its target).
MERGIMS’ concept has been proven in 2015, and it has repeating clients and sales that’s growing at a rate of 55% with its Android app, which has been downloaded over 500 times.
Jeff Gasana’s COMZAfrica has presence in 23 countries and MERGIMS will be leveraging on this to further achieve its aims and objectives.
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