Exclusive: Brass secures new funding as customers confirm an end to withdrawal delays

Brass, the Nigerian business banking startup that has been receiving criticism from customers for failing to process withdrawals on time, has received a capital injection from a group of investors, four people with knowledge of the deal told TechCabal.

The deal, a mix of debt and equity, was concluded last week, those people said, while declining to share the exact funding amount.

Over the last few weeks, some Nigerian fintech leaders began working together to keep Brass going, said one person with knowledge of the initial talks. “Brass is a great product that is valuable to customers,” that person said.

“The ultimate goal of this investment is service delivery,” said an investor who asked not to be named to speak freely.

The new capital injection will provide much-needed working capital for the startup after it furloughed employees on March 4.

“I’m happy to share that we’ve resolved these issues, and transactions are working seamlessly once again,” Brass said in an email to customers on Tuesday.

On Tuesday afternoon, several Brass customers shared on X that they had begun receiving pending withdrawals.

Brass did not respond to a request for comments.

Struggles at Brass

Users began noticing withdrawal delays in October 2023, and Sola Akindolu, the company’s CEO, told TechCabal that a major liquidity partner pulled out of a partnership, leaving the startup under significant strain.

That partner was a major Nigerian fintech, said two people familiar with the matter. Until the middle of 2023, that fintech offered uncollateralised loans to several startups but eventually discontinued this service.

After it began experiencing liquidity problems, the startup approached Flutterwave for an acquisition, but that deal ultimately did not materialise, sources familiar with those talks said. A spokesperson for Flutterwave told TechCabal there were no acquisition plans between the two startups.

“It is not in any way new for fintechs to approach and support one another behind the scenes,” Brass told TechCabal via mail in March.

The startup also approached larger startups like Moniepoint for a capital injection. Moniepoint declined to provide funding to Brass, according to a source familiar with those proceedings.