Forbes 30 Under 30 Honours Yellow Card Co-Founders as Pioneers in the Crypto Industry

The Forbes 30 Under 30 List is no doubt one of the most internationally recognised lists across the world. This year Yellow Card Financial co-founders Chris Maurice, CEO, and Justin Poiroux, CTO, were recognised in the “Big Money Startups" category for their work and contribution to the African crypto industry. 

The 2022 renowned North America list acknowledged 600 business and industry figures, with 30 people selected in each category. Both Chris (26) and Justin (25) were ecstatic about the honour. 

“Throughout this entire journey, Chris and I have stayed laser-focused on our goal, and it feels really gratifying to get recognition of that. I am super excited for the networking opportunities this accolade will bring for us. It is an extremely inspiring group of people to be listed amongst and I am excited to see what I can learn and build as a result of this accolade,” said Justin.

Chris, who was also profiled in the latest December/January issue of Forbes Africa Magazine, says that after a very busy, intense and successful year, this accolade is incredibly significant. 

“For any entrepreneur in pursuit of a dream, being acknowledged on this level, among other pioneers, is a dream come true. This gives me greater inspiration and motivation to continue to work at the highest possible level,” he said. 

Since its launch in Nigeria in 2019, Yellow Card has grown and developed into one of the most prominent cryptocurrency companies in Africa. And this year certainly proved to be one of the company’s most successful years yet. 

This year the crypto leader surpassed 1 million customers and went through a transformative corporate rebrand. They held their first “Women in Crypto '' virtual conference to promote diversity and inclusion, highlighting the incredible leading women in the industry and opening up more space for women in crypto. The company also added a new product called Yellow Pay which is a crypto-powered way to send value across borders. 

Later on Yellow Card made headlines with their $40 million Series B fundraise, bringing the total raised by the company to $57 million. This is the largest fundraising ever by a crypto company on the African continent.

They enlarged their geographical footprint from 12 to 16 countries, launching in Gabon, Senegal, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

By far, one of the biggest accomplishments of the company this year was becoming the first cryptocurrency company on the continent to be granted a Virtual Asset Service Provider licence to operate in Botswana, receiving a licence issued by the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA). 

Internally they almost doubled their staff - Yellow Card now has 217 employees who work from 24 different countries. More than 95% of the staff is based in Africa with 39% being female. This year the company also officially granted stock options to every full-time employee.

In the coming years, Yellow Card will continue to pursue their mission to make it easy and affordable for anyone, anywhere in Africa to interact with the digital currency ecosystem, send and receive money, and control their own finances. Making basic financial services accessible to 1.2 billion people via crypto is not just a pipe dream - but something they are actively pursuing every day. 

For more information, contact:

Rutendo Nyamuda, Public Relations Officer

Email: [email protected]