The $3 million seed round was led by Tiger Global and comes just two months after the startup graduated from Y Combinator’s summer batch. Union54 is a debit card issuing API for fintech and corporates, founded in 2020 by Perseus Mlambo and Alessandra Martini. Union54 enables any software company to issue debit cards to their clients without requiring the services of a bank or a credit card processor. BIN sponsorship, transaction processing, and settlement are all provided. The company was spun out from ZAZU, a challenger bank that was founded six years ago. More than 50 companies are in Union54’s API sandbox environment, ranging from digital banks to post-Series A fintechs to startups established as a result of Union54’s availability, with four companies already live in production and providing virtual cards to their consumers. Flutterwave is a partner of Union54, as are newer startups like Bitmama, a crypto exchange platform, and cross-border fintechs Payday and Plumter.It currently has a small team of ten people located in Zambia, Nigeria, Europe, South Africa, and Malawi. Ace & Company, Vibe VC, Todd & Rahul Angel Fund, and Runa Capital, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, are among the investors in the round. Union54 also received cheques from angel investors such as Babs Ogundeyi, CEO of Kuda Bank; Gbenga Ajayi, former director of SMB Growth at Wise; and Risana Zitha, managing director of Renaissance Capital. Union54 intends to use the funds to extend its regional customer base and expand its personnel in the areas of product development, engineering, sales, and marketing.
