#FoundersConnect: Interview with Yinka Adewale, the CEO of Kudi

In the middle of 2016, after one frustrating banking experience after another, Yinka Adewale and Pelumi Aboluwarin founded Kudi (YC W17) to drive a seamless banking experience in our local communities in Africa. Now, Kudi is trusted by millions of people every day to send money, get cash and make bill payments across Nigeria.

In this video, Yinka Adewale shares his story: how Kudi started as message commerce (Kudi.ai) and pivoted to agent banking after some time, the difficulty they faced raising seed for the business, plans for the future and lessons learned so far. He also shares the story behind how he resigned as co-founder/co-CEO and gave up all his shares at a previous startup and much more.

Watch the Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9CDM5a6Vz4

Video timestamps

01:12 - Growing up

08:00 - From EIR at Venture Garden Group to launching his first startup

10:55 - Launching his second company

13:00 - First $25k investment while he was still in University.

16:00 - Raised $100k seed and grow the team to about ten.

17:05 - Resigning & Stepping down as Co-CEO and giving up all his shares

22:00 - Kudi time (lol). How Kudi started

27:22 - Pivoting from Kudi.ai to Kudi.com

28:53 - Raising $500k for Kudi

32:22 - Agent Banking

39:00 - Raising Series A

42:00 - Current Stats on Kudi (+ Yinka's thought on the ecosystem)

44:35 - The best thing about what Kudi is building

47:33 - Challenges Building a Fintech in this market

49:45 - What will you do differently if you could do it all over again

52:30 - Biggest Hiring Mistake so Far & Favourite Personal Failure

1:03:00- Exit plan for Kudi: IPO? Acquisition? Build for the long term?