The Emerging Hubs for Future Super Apps

By Nnamdi Okike

You have likely never heard of Tosin Eniolorunda. You should have.

Over the past decade, Tosin and his team grew Moniepoint into the foundational operating system for more than 6 million Nigerian businesses, managing over $300 billion annually. This accounts for 39% of all digital payments volume in Nigeria and 8 out of every 10 in-person transactions.

As a Nigerian American, I watched my father make countless trips to Western Union to send money back to relatives, and I personally encountered Nigeria’s fee-heavy payment network when traveling there. Moniepoint is actively reshaping that framework.

Moniepoint is far from alone. Companies like Sea Limited, Grab, Kaspi, Yassir, and Nubank1 have achieved valuations in the tens or hundreds of billions despite remaining unfamiliar to most Americans, following the path initially carved by Tencent, Alibaba, and MercadoLibre.

These platforms operate as super apps, combining banking, commerce, ride-hailing, and bill payments into a single trusted portal. This concept never gained traction in the United States for one primary reason: trust is inexpensive there. Because 96% of U.S. households already use traditional banking services, a specialized application automatically borrows the credibility of the broader financial infrastructure. Where trust is readily available, super apps are unnecessary.

Build trust first

In developing economies, establishing trust is the core challenge. Four specific conditions typically precede the rise of a successful super app: widespread mobile penetration that lowers distribution expenses; weak competition from established players; inadequate financial services; and a financial crisis severe enough to strip incumbents of their credibility—a factor many investors often overlook. Populations in these regions are not just underbanked; they have been financially harmed, yet the institutions responsible still dominate the market.

In 1990, Brazil froze roughly 80% of bank deposits and financial assets for an 18-month period as part of an attempt to halt hyperinflation. The subsequent banking consolidation left five major institutions controlling about 80% of all banking assets while imposing credit card interest rates exceeding 300%. Nubank emerged directly into that void.

Kazakhstan experienced similar upheaval twice: citizens lost their savings to inflation rates reaching thousands of percent during the collapse of the ruble zone in 1993, followed by a 2007–2009 banking crisis where the nation’s largest bank, BTA—which held roughly a quarter of the system’s assets—was nationalized and defaulted amid accusations of multi-billion-dollar fraud. Kaspi expanded to fill that gap.

The Southeast Asian financial crisis of 1997 proved even more destructive. Indonesia shut down 16 banks via a single announcement, the rupiah dropped approximately 85% in value, and economic output fell by 13%. Two decades later, about half of Indonesian adults still lacked a bank account, creating the opening that allowed Sea to develop Shopee and SeaMoney.

Kaspi also addresses the pushback I frequently receive from American investors who worry that these international markets are too small to yield substantial exits. Kazakhstan has a population of just 20 million, yet corporate filings show that roughly 14 million people—nearly 70% of the country—use Kaspi. The typical user engages with the platform roughly 77 times a month. The company generates $9 billion in revenue with a 56% EBITDA margin and boasts an enterprise valuation exceeding $17 billion. Spending depth, rather than total population size, determines the ultimate financial ceiling.

Comparing Nubank to Chime highlights this dynamic. Nubank serves 127 million customers—14 times the user base of Chime—generates about 7 times the revenue, and commands a market capitalization more than 6 times larger. Nubank has successfully integrated over 31 million previously unbanked Brazilians into the formal financial ecosystem. Applying technology to an overlooked market featuring a major, unaddressed pain point can yield a significantly larger and more defensible enterprise than deploying the same technology in an affluent market.

Evaluating regions based on those four key conditions highlights several potential locations where the next major super app might develop:

• Bangladesh: Five banks were systematically looted from within over several years until a 2024 government transition brought the corruption to light, with authorities now pledging to reimburse 7.5 million depositors whose funds disappeared.
• Egypt: The local pound experienced recurring devaluations between 2016 and 2024, continuously eroding the value of savings kept in state-run banking institutions.
• Vietnam: Depositors withdrew 80% of their funds from a major bank in 2022 following the arrest of its owner in connection with a $24 billion fraud case.
• Pakistan: The country faced a near-default and 38% inflation in 2023, followed by the rollout of government-managed payment rails and a national identification system that makes customer onboarding nearly cost-free.

There is one essential boundary condition: the crisis must be disruptive enough to delegitimize existing institutions, yet contained enough that national currency systems and payment networks remain operational.

The initial wave of super apps generated extraordinary returns for their early backers. In 2001, South African media corporation Naspers invested roughly $34 million for a 46.5% ownership stake in Tencent, an investment that eventually surpassed $100 billion in value and stands as one of the most successful technology investments in history. Similarly, Sequoia Capital’s participation in Nubank’s $2 million seed round, paired with its lead investment in the Series A round, was valued at $7 billion when the company went public.

The second generation of these platforms is currently expanding. The third wave will leverage stablecoins and artificial intelligence across cities like Abidjan, Buenos Aires, Karachi, and Lagos, driven by entrepreneurs such as Tosin Eniolorunda who will steer the future expansion of emerging market economies.

---

 Nnamdi Okike is co-founder and managing partner of 645 Ventures, where he oversees the firm’s investing strategy, governance and compliance, with a focus on fintech and enterprise technology. Since co-founding 645 Ventures in 2014, he has invested in and partnered with companies including RentSpree, Setpoint, Sequence, Solidus Labs, Order and Uptiq. Previously, he was an investor at Insight Partners, where he invested in 19 companies and had nine exits representing more than $9 billion in exit value.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a super app?

A super app is a single, trusted application that bundles multiple services together, such as banking, commerce, ride-hailing, and bill payments.

Why are super apps common in emerging markets but rare in the U.S.?

In the U.S., trust in financial institutions is high because 96% of households are already banked, allowing specialist apps to thrive. In emerging markets, severe financial crises have destroyed trust in legacy institutions, creating a void that super apps fill by providing secure, bundled services.

What conditions typically precede the rise of a super app?

Four conditions usually precede a super app: high mobile penetration for cheap distribution, weak incumbent competition, poor existing financial services, and a severe financial crisis that strips legacy institutions of their legitimacy.

Which global markets are highlighted as potential locations for the next super apps?

Bangladesh, Egypt, Vietnam, and Pakistan are highlighted as markets facing severe financial disruptions where new super apps could emerge.

Who is Tosin Eniolorunda?

Tosin Eniolorunda is the founder who built Moniepoint into an operating system for over 6 million Nigerian businesses, processing a major share of the country’s digital and in-person payments.

---