The Big Bunce Theory
How one AI startup is turning drop off into dollars for other startups
Backdrop
In the digital economy, data is the new oil — but most companies still act like they're drilling with spoons.
Every click, payment, or profile update leaves behind a trail of data. Yet businesses, especially in emerging markets, struggle to stitch it all together into something useful. Data is fragmented across apps, dashboards, and databases. And that leaves money on the table — a lot of money.
In fact, it is estimated that African companies lose billions each year simply because they can't leverage their customer data properly.
And that’s exactly where Bunce comes in.
The Problem
Back in 2019, while working at CredPal (a Y Combinator-backed credit card startup in Lagos), Bunce’s founders saw the pain firsthand: failed payments.
Cards would decline not because customers were running from debt, but for frustratingly basic reasons — insufficient funds, network outages, or random glitches.
There was no smart system nudging customers to fix it or retry when things were better. And it was losing them money.
But it wasn’t a problem only CredPal had.
Across industries, companies were losing revenue - not only from failed payments, but from customers who abandoned apps halfway, dropped off onboarding flows, or simply forgot to complete transactions.
Companies had data on all these failure points. But the real issue: the data was sitting idle, instead of driving action.
Bunce’s Fix
Bunce began life in 2021 as a failed payment recovery tool, automatically messaging users based on why their payment failed.
But customer conversations revealed a bigger opportunity: businesses needed help across the entire customer journey.
So the team went back to the lab.
Today, Bunce is a full-blown marketing automation platform focused on two high-data industries: financial services and transportation.
They plug into any customer data source — apps, websites, databases, third-party processors — then use AI to automatically recommend the right message, to the right user, at the right time.
Think: onboarding nudges for fintech apps, upselling return tickets for transport companies, and of course, recovering those failed payments.
Since its relaunch in early 2024, Bunce has processed over 20 million unique data points, is sending 10–20 million messages monthly, and is trusted by brands like Burger King Nigeria, Nairabet, and GIGM.
The Money Talk
Bunce charges a subscription fee — roughly one cent per active customer per month — with additional charges for extra messages.
They’re currently doing about $6k MRR, with $41k in total revenue booked this year alone.
Their market? Huge.
They’re chasing a $31.5 billion opportunity across emerging markets, with a crystal-clear plan to focus deep on Nigeria first, then expand thoughtfully into places like Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa.
Bunce has a clear roadmap to $1M ARR and is looking to raise $500k in a pre-seed round to obtain data protection certifications, which will allow them to expand into other markets and de-risk against regulatory compliance.
They have secured over $200k and are backed by the likes of Google AI fund and the Baobab Network.
Why We're Excited
Two big reasons:
(1) Bunce isn’t just another Mailchimp clone. By focusing deeply on financial services and transport — and by baking AI recommendations directly into the platform — they’re offering a tool that's simpler, smarter, and better suited for high-volume, low-margin industries.
(2) Local advantage. With global SaaS prices ballooning due to exchange rates, businesses are desperate for local, naira-priced alternatives. Bunce offers that, at a time when companies are actively hunting for cheaper, easier tools.
If they keep executing, Bunce could build a sticky, high-retention product — and maybe even a monopoly in certain verticals.
But What Could Go Wrong?
Of course, there are challenges.
Competition is fierce. Global giants like Customer.io and Netcore exist — even if they’re clunky and expensive.
Scaling beyond Nigeria will require heavy localization work and regulatory compliance (think data privacy certifications).
Dependence on two sectors (finance and transport) could slow growth if those sectors tighten budgets.
The Team
Bunce was founded by Paul Ayuk, Justus Osueno, and Damiola Soladoye — a trio with deep product and engineering experience at CredPal and international payments company Paymentology. Together, they bring over 15 years of combined expertise in building and scaling tech products across Africa and beyond.
What do you think of Bunce?
If you’d like to meet the team or would love a more detailed investment memo, shoot me a reply.
And if you’re building something cool we should know about, fill out this form 👇 https://shorturl.at/5E4Cn
Till next week! 👋
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