Business · Companies · 1 day ago
Nigerian founders built Timon after facing barriers to travel and payments
Timon is a fintech startup founded by Nigerians Oluwatomi Ayorinde and Chizaram Ucheaga.
They built a multi-currency travel card after experiencing problems accessing money and paying abroad.
The company has more than 100,000 users across 16 African markets.
The founders relocated to Nairobi to build the business.
US crypto accelerator Alliance backed Timon, and its investment funds arrived in two weeks.
But an expired US visa meant only one founder could travel to California.
The visa difficulties reflect a wider challenge for African entrepreneurs, even when funding and business opportunities are available.
Timon is a fintech startup that issues a multi-currency travel card to frequent travellers.
Its co-founders, Oluwatomi Ayorinde and Chizaram Ucheaga, drew on difficulties they faced accessing money and using bank cards abroad.
The company has grown to more than 100,000 users across 16 African markets.
Ayorinde’s earlier travel experiences included relying on cash envelopes in India and having some card payments fail in Germany.
The founders also faced visa delays, including when an expired US visa prevented one of them from travelling to California after an investment.
- Who
- Timon co-founders Oluwatomi Ayorinde and Chizaram Ucheaga.
- What
- They built a fintech startup issuing a multi-currency travel card for frequent travellers.
- When
- Not stated
- Where
- Timon serves users across 16 African markets. The founders’ travel experiences included India, Germany and Kenya.
- Why
- They wanted to address the payment problems and travel frustrations they had experienced abroad.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Have you ever tried calling an embassy line? Nobody picks it
It was a seven-day event, and when the visa came out, they gave me a visa for that exact seven days
Ayorinde travelled to India for a three-month professional course in SAP software and relied on cash brought from Nigeria.
Ayorinde joined SAP and travelled to Germany for a seven-day work event, but his visa arrived late.
Ucheaga travelled to Kenya for a week, according to the article.
Ayorinde’s previous startup, Mobile Forms, was invited to interview for Y Combinator in California, and the team secured US visas shortly before the interview window.
- Founders
- Oluwatomi Ayorinde and Chizaram Ucheaga
- Users
- More than 100,000
- Markets
- 16 African markets
- Product
- Independent multi-currency travel card
- Ayorinde’s India course
- Three months
- Mobile Forms’ YC interview
- 2016
Sources
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