Seed Round · April 2026 · Confidential

Start with
one santim.
Build your habt.

ዛሬ ሳንቲምህ፣ የነገ ሃብትህ — Today's coin, tomorrow's wealth.

Ethiopia's first mobile investment platform. Built for the Ethiopian Securities Exchange. Powered by 54M Telebirr users. Zero licensed competitors.

ECMA Sandbox Applicant

ESX Integration

Telebirr Native

Current Raise

ETB 42M

~$300,000 USD

LIVE

ETB 9.7M committed 0%

52 investors · Round closes Jun 30, 2026

15–20%

Equity offered

ETB 10K

Minimum

Month 18

Breakeven

75–124×

Target return

Diaspora investors in North America may participate directly through Ignite Investment — no holding company required.

01 — The Opportunity

The exchange built the road.
Nobody built the car.

Ethiopia launched its first securities exchange in January 2025 — ending a 50-year absence from organised capital markets. The infrastructure is operational. The regulatory framework is in place. The payment rails are in 54 million hands. What does not exist is a single consumer product connecting an ordinary Ethiopian to any of it.

No consumer investment app

The ESX's own app (Neway) is a trading utility — no robo-advisory, no portfolio management, no goal setting. The exchange spent $500K confirming the gap exists.

Physical access required

Before Neway, participating in Ethiopia's capital market required visiting a broker office in Addis Ababa during business hours. 135 million people. One option.

Diaspora completely excluded

3.5M Ethiopians in North America send $7.2B home annually. Zero mechanism exists to convert any of that into Ethiopian securities ownership. Until now.

Demand already proven

47,305 Ethiopians tried to join the Ethio Telecom IPO — the largest in Ethiopian history — with no consumer platform available. They proved demand exists. We built the platform.

47,305

Ethio Telecom IPO participants

With no platform to help them

$7.2B

Annual diaspora remittances

Zero investment conversion today

15 mo

Age of the ESX

Consumer product never built

02 — The Exchange

66 IPOs in the pipeline.
Every one is a Santim marketing event.

The ESX has 66 prospectuses under ECMA review. Every listing creates a new cohort of Ethiopians who want to invest and need a platform. The first platform at every IPO event owns that cohort.

Awash Bank S.C.Commercial Banking

Listed Apr 23

First major bank IPO. Bell Ringing Apr 23, 2026.

Dashen BankCommercial Banking

In pipeline

Largest private bank — expected highest retail demand

Bank of AbyssiniaCommercial Banking

In pipeline

Strong diaspora depositor base — natural Santim users

Ethio TelecomTelecoms — Telebirr parent

Listed Jun 2025

47,305 participants. Demand proven at scale.

Wegagen Bank & Gadaa BankCommercial Banking

Listed 2025

First listings — market-making precedent set

+61 additional prospectusesUnder ECMA review at weekly approval pace

In review

03 — Products

Three products.
One platform. No competitors.

Santim's product roadmap sequences from simplest (managed portfolios) to most complex (diaspora accounts), proving the model before expanding. The same playbook Wealthsimple used to grow from zero to $100B AUA.

⬡

Managed Portfolios

Robo-Advisory · Phase 1

0.5% p.a.

Answer 5 questions. Santim allocates to ESX equities and T-bills automatically. Amharic-first interface. No minimum investment. Automatic rebalancing.

◈

Self-Directed Trading

ESX Trade · Phase 2

ETB 10 / trade

Buy and sell ESX-listed equities, T-bills, and bonds directly. Flat fee per trade. No commissions. Waived entirely for Premium subscribers.

◎

Diaspora Accounts

USD-Denominated · Phase 2

1.0% FX spread

Open from Toronto, DC, or London. Convert remittances at the official CBE rate. Own Ethiopian securities from anywhere. Monthly USD statements.

Revenue Model

Six streams. No single point of failure.

0.5%

AUM Management Fee

Annual fee on managed portfolios. Competitive globally, fair for first-time investors.

★ Highest margin

~14%

T-Bill NIM Sweep

Idle client cash swept into NBE T-bills at 14% yield. 3.5× Canada's rate. Zero additional product development. ETB 1.9M in Year 1 alone.

1.0%

Diaspora FX Spread

USD/ETB conversion at official CBE rate + 1%. $100K annually on $10M diaspora inflows. Wealthsimple never had this line.

ETB 150

Premium Subscription

~$1 USD/month. IPO allocation guarantee + zero trade fees + annual tax reports. SaaS recurring revenue.

ETB 10

Trade Execution Fee

Flat fee per ESX trade. No commissions. No spread markup. Waived for Premium subscribers.

ETB 200–500

IPO Priority Access

Per-IPO event revenue from Premium subscribers. Every ESX listing is both a marketing event and a revenue event.

04 — Financial Projections

From coin to gold.
Five years.

All figures in ETB millions. The five-year EIC income tax holiday means net profit equals operating profit throughout. Breakeven at approximately 5,000 accounts — Month 16 to 18.

Metric	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
Total accounts	2,000	12,000	45,000	150,000	400,000
AUM (ETB M)	8	69	360	1,506	4,800
Revenue (ETB M)	4.8	51.8	236	756	2,040
Operating costs (ETB M)	22.5	42.2	80.3	169.4	377.3
Net profit / (loss)	(17.7)	+9.6	+155.7	+586.6	+1,662.7
Net margin	—	18.5%	66.0%	77.6%	81.5%

ETB 800

Customer Acquisition Cost

Telebirr referral program

ETB 5,505

3-Year Customer LTV

AUM + NIM + Premium over 36 months

6.9×

LTV / CAC Ratio

Industry benchmark: 3× is strong

Wealthsimple Comparison

Structurally superior on every dimension.

Variable	Wealthsimple — Canada 2014	Santim — Ethiopia 2026
Market population	38M	135M — 3.5× larger
Exchange age at launch	150 years (TSX)	15 months — true first mover
Licensed retail competitors	Multiple (banks + fintechs)	Zero — uncontested category
Payment rail at launch	Interac (limited digital)	Telebirr — 54M users, ready now
Government T-bill yield	~4% annually	~14% annually — 3.5× advantage
Diaspora investment channel	Not applicable	$7.2B annual remittances
10-year valuation	$10B (2025)	$30–50M target Year 5 (conservative)

05 — Competitive Advantages

Four moats.
None easily replicated.

T-Bill NIM — structural, not promotional

14% T-bill yield is a permanent feature of the Ethiopian monetary environment. On ETB 20M average idle cash, Santim earns ETB 2.8M annually — enough to fund two engineers — from a practice requiring zero product development. No comparable platform anywhere has this advantage.

Diaspora network effect — bi-directional

A diaspora investor in Toronto refers family in Addis → domestic account opens. Each diaspora account carries 10–20× the AUM of a domestic account. No purely domestic competitor can replicate this loop — it requires the diaspora infrastructure only Santim is building.

ECMA licensing — 9 to 18-month barrier

The portfolio manager license requires a CFA-equivalent fund manager on payroll, minimum capital, and a demonstrated product — the sandbox pathway takes 3–9 months minimum. Any competitor deciding to enter retail wealth management after Santim launches faces this delay plus the brand trust deficit of being second.

IPO allocation — stronger with every listing

Premium subscribers get guaranteed IPO allocation in every ESX listing up to ETB 10,000, regardless of oversubscription. This feature requires direct ESX broker infrastructure. A Premium subscriber who has received guaranteed allocations twice will not leave for a platform that cannot match it.

06 — Founding Team

The people
building it.

CEO

Chief Executive Officer

Strategy · Regulatory · Investor Relations

Ethiopian national. 10+ years in financial services. Deep ECMA regulatory relationships. Prior fintech product launches in East Africa. Leads investor relations and ECMA sandbox engagement.

CTO

Chief Technology Officer

Architecture · Telebirr/ESX Integration

React Native and Node.js expertise. AWS Africa infrastructure experience. Prior financial API development at scale. ESX Neway and Telebirr API integrations pre-scoped.

CIO

Chief Investment Officer

Portfolio Management · ECMA Prerequisite

CFA-equivalent qualification — the individual licensing prerequisite for the ECMA portfolio manager license. Prior fund management experience at a major Ethiopian commercial bank.

DIA

Head of Diaspora & Partnerships

North America Channel · Ignite Relationship

Bilingual (Amharic / English). Washington DC-based Ethiopian community connections. Diaspora investment network spanning DC, Minneapolis, Toronto, and Calgary.

Full team of 8 at launch. Advisory board: former ECMA official · Canadian fintech operator · Ethiopian banking sector advisor · ESG/impact investment specialist. Full bios available in data room.

07 — The Raise

ETB 42M seed round.
Ignite Investment vehicle.

Raised through Ignite Investment — Ethiopia's first ECMA-licensed equity crowdfunding platform. Diaspora investors in North America participate directly, no holding company required. All investors aggregated into a single shareholder, keeping the cap table clean.

Use of Funds

Technology + ECMA compliance 40% · ETB 16.8M

Licensing + legal counsel 30% · ETB 12.6M

Operations — 12-month runway 20% · ETB 8.4M

Marketing + brand launch 10% · ETB 4.2M

Deal Terms

Raise amountETB 42M (~$300K USD)

Equity offered15 – 20%

InstrumentEquity — Ethiopia S.C.

Minimum investmentETB 10,000

VehicleIgnite Investment

Seed investor return (base)75–124× USD

Capital Roadmap

Seed ★ Now

ETB 42M

~$300K USD

Month 3–9, 2026

Ignite Investment — Diaspora equity crowdfunding

15–20% equity offered. Covers MVP build, ECMA licensing, 12-month runway, and brand launch. Single SPV entry on cap table.

Series A

ETB 140M

~$1M USD

Month 18–24

IFC + AfDB co-investment

Post-launch traction milestone. Funds Phase 2: diaspora accounts, self-directed trading, and premium subscription launch.

Growth Bond

ETB 700M

~$5M USD

Year 3–4

ESX-listed corporate bond

Santim lists a bond on the exchange it was built to serve. A brand milestone and a capital event simultaneously.

Exit

ETB 4–7B

$30–50M USD

Year 5+

ESX equity listing or strategic acquisition

ESX equity IPO at 20% free float. Or strategic acquisition (Flutterwave, MFS Africa, regional bank group seeking Ethiopian market entry).

08 — Risk Factors

What investors
should know.

Investing in early-stage companies involves significant risk including possible loss of all capital. Santim-specific risks are listed below alongside the mitigations built into the business design.

HighPolitical & Security

Ethiopia has experienced regional conflict since 2020. Mitigation: Phase 1–2 confined to Addis Ababa (stable). Cloud infrastructure = remote operations. DFI co-investment at Series A provides political risk buffer.

HighBirr Currency Volatility

Post-float birr may depreciate materially. Mitigation: 14% T-bill yield partially offsets depreciation. Diaspora accounts are USD-denominated. Transparent FX disclosure to all users.

MediumECMA Licensing Delay

Sandbox pathway takes 3–9 months minimum. Delay beyond 12 months pushes breakeven. Mitigation: ECMA engagement from Month 1, licensed fund manager hired pre-application.

MediumESX Liquidity Depth

ESX is 15 months old. Secondary market liquidity is limited. Mitigation: Phase 1 portfolios hold 60–70% T-bills (NBE-issued, fully liquid). Equity weight grows only as 66-listing pipeline materialises.

MediumDiaspora Conversion Rate

Diaspora account uptake may underperform projections. Mitigation: Domestic T-bill NIM sustains the base business independently. Diaspora is the growth accelerator, not a survival requirement.

LowCompetitive Entry

No licensed competitor exists. Mitigation: ECMA licensing = 9–18 month barrier for any new entrant. First-mover brand trust in financial services is highly durable (Wealthsimple Canadian data confirms).

The window is open