Nigerian Start-up, Fibre Launches Second Product; Secure

Fibre, the Nigerian Start-up at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco unveiled its plan to launch a home-buying and selling platform called “Secure”, which according to the startup already has $10 million worth of property.

With Fibre, those looking to rent property in Nigeria can find one in three days and then pay monthly. Fibre doesn’t pay landlords upfront, but quarterly. From there, Fibre charges tenants a 15 percent convenience fee, compared to the standard 20-25 percent fees.

Secure aims to help anyone invest in residential real estate all throughout Africa. Through the platform, people can purchase portions of or entire properties via Secure and then rent it out via Fibre’s first product.

Fibre wants to make it easier to invest in real estate in Africa https://t.co/8mkaY0PqA0 by @meganrosedickey pic.twitter.com/Rqp7pw1QuD

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) September 6, 2018

Fibre is expanding into real estate investing because it’s a huge market. According to the startup, Nigeria alone invest $3.5 billion in residential real estate annually. The start-up is currently based in Lagos but plans to expand across Africa anytime soon. To date, Fibre has raised $790,000 in funding.

“We created Fibre because we figured housing is too fundamental for people to have to jump through so many hoops,” Fibre CEO Obinna Okwodu told TechCrunch.

“It’s the complete lack of trust that causes people to demand one to two years of rent upfront… Having a trusted intermediary provides security to homeowners and landlords.” He said.

Excited to announce our new product https://t.co/gRYumluVLo at #TCDisrupt today! https://t.co/L5lVeoZ2ef

— Fibre (@fibrelifestyle) September 6, 2018

Since it established in 2016, Fibre has guaranteed $1.5 million worth of rental payments to landlords. Fibre’s main product currently lists 200 rental units.