Irrational Innovations, a fintech-focused venture capital in Africa, mapped out and analyzed the growing fintech ecosystem in Nigeria – consisting of over 50 companies with investments exceeding $200M in the last 2 years.

The firm said that startups based in Nigeria have developed effective payment and lending models. Nearly 37% of fintech startups in Nigeria fall into the categories of payments and remittances, 32% offer lending and financing, and the remaining 31% of startups fall under a new generation of products and services that didn’t exist in the space before 2015.

To that end, it pointed out two startups – NairaEx and NairaSwitch – that allow users to buy and sell bitcoin. It also noted Casava’s efforts to become the first company in Africa to offer peer to peer insurance to consumers, and Interswitch that became Nigeria’s first fintech unicorn, a payment processing company valued at over $1 billion.

Irrational Innovations also pointed out other relatively untapped sectors in the Nigerian fintech ecosystem, which includes wealth management, business solutions, savings, banking, and trading, provide unprecedented opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors.

The company believes that Nigeria has the potential to become one of the most significant leaders in Africa’s fintech innovation. Its growing populations and talented work force with a strong entrepreneurial spirit are enabling the country to be a leader in this space.

Furthermore, mobile penetration and usage are very high with smartphone penetration of over 23 million and an estimated 150 million active subscriber lines in the country. Also, mobile money operations have grown from an average monthly transaction value of $5 million in 2011 to $142.8 million in 2016. Lastly, like many countries in Africa, Nigeria is not constrained by the legacy systems of the traditional banking industry, allowing for new technologies and solutions to fill the financial gap.

“As the fintech space in Nigeria continues to flourish and investments grow, Nigeria may reach its fullest potential as one of the global leaders of the fintech space”, it said.