Nigerian fintech startup Cardtonic has secured 2.1 million dollars in seed funding to develop Pil, a specialized platform designed to streamline corporate spending and operational costs for businesses in Nigeria. This funding round was backed exclusively by angel investors, representing a significant milestone during a period where early stage venture capital remains conservative.
Prior to this move, Cardtonic operated as a bootstrapped entity, utilizing revenue from its retail financial services to grow. Those services include gift cards, virtual dollar cards, bill payments and eSIMs. The introduction of Pil signifies the first strategic expansion for the company away from consumer focused products toward the business to business sector.
The new platform addresses the needs of companies managing high volume and predictable expenses such as software subscriptions, digital advertising and international payments. Pil enables organizations to fund corporate cards using naira or stablecoins while providing tools for team access management, approval workflows and comprehensive spending oversight through a centralized dashboard. The company plans to include support for more African currencies as the platform scales.
Founded in 2019 by Balogun Usman and Faturoti Kayode and currently led by Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Sohe, the company developed Pil to solve internal operational challenges. As the organization expanded, it faced difficulties with fluctuating card limits, payment failures and high transaction fees on foreign platforms. After building a custom internal tool to stabilize its own operations, the leadership decided to refine the solution for the wider market.
The decision to seek external capital was motivated by the technical requirements of the new venture. Building robust infrastructure for Pil necessitates significant investment in regulatory compliance, liquidity management and systems capable of handling large transaction volumes for corporate teams.
This shift reflects a broader trend within the Nigerian financial technology landscape. Many startups are moving beyond consumer apps to build core financial infrastructure. This transition mirrors the evolution of major players who have expanded into payment rails and regulatory systems as the consumer market becomes increasingly competitive.
Pil will operate as an independent entity from the retail division of the company to better serve the specific requirements of corporate clients. The platform is scheduled for a January 2025 launch. Future updates are expected to include advanced spending controls, integrations with accounting software and application programming interfaces for larger enterprises.
In a market where seed deals are becoming less frequent, this capital injection highlights a growing interest in business infrastructure. The move suggests that the next phase of growth for regional fintech may reside in the essential systems that allow businesses to function daily rather than in traditional consumer services.
