For a FinTech that solely aims to provide a faster means of issuing cards, Miden is taking the card industry to another level in Nigeria.
Created by Okiemute Avworhokai and Ini-Obong Udoh, Miden looks at cards as necessities, that help improve payment and increase outreach in businesses around the world, not just in Nigeria.
The process of issuing cards, however, is not an easy route if the company does not establish the right connections with established banks.
Without the bank acting as a partner for FinTech, time consumption will be the least of their worries as card schemes such as Visa, Verve, and MasterCard are difficult and expensive to join.
What does MIden do?
According to the founders, building a card integration system within a bank takes at least 6 months and, at most, a year to complete because of its complexity.
The financial entity, Miden, aims to drastically reduce the wait time for issuing virtual cards in USD and Naira from months to mere weeks. This is done through a unique and easy-to-use, customizable API with pre-built integration options.
The founders of Miden could achieve this feat, as both Udoh and Okiemute have been building financial systems for Nigerian banks for over 13 years.
Now, Miden boasts of issuing over 100,000 cards across four countries, generating at least $100,000 in monthly recurring revenue. This comes from also serving over 25 businesses, processing approximately $3.2 million monthly.
The Miden revenue strategy is to charge subscription fees for businesses that utilize their platform for issuing cards. In addition, the company charges transactional fees on the card it issues.
Miden now desires to scale up its operations, becoming a core banking provider with the capabilities of issuing physical USD cards and developing solutions to other related banking problems.
In addition, the future is looking bright for MIden as the international startup financiers Y Combinator has officially included the FinTech company in its winter 2024 batch.