brdrs raises $1.3M pre-seed for Black diaspora travel super app
What's the deal? brdrs, a fintech travel app built for African and Caribbean diaspora travellers, has raised $1.3M in a pre-seed round. The app bundles cross-border connectivity, a multi-currency digital wallet, and brdrs Connect, which lets users buy and activate a local eSIM.
Why now? Co-founder and chief executive officer Joy Martins traces the idea to a trip to Lagos, where she watched travellers lose their first day to logistics. "I'd travelled to Lagos and watched people, including myself, spend the first day of their trip just trying to figure out the basics," she said.
She concluded those were not tourist problems but diaspora problems — people returning to places that felt like home yet finding the infrastructure was not built for them.
What's the endgame? Martins pitches brdrs as a travel "super app" that replaces the four or five apps a trip usually requires. Users buy an eSIM for data before landing, load a multi-currency wallet to avoid conversion losses, and use an AI concierge for local events and venues.
Who's it for? The company is targeting Black women, whom it calls the fastest-growing but most underserved demographic in travel. Planned features include vetted recommendations, safety-first navigation, and community tools to connect diaspora travellers on the ground.
brdrs is also courting students. It wants to give those on HBCU trips to Ghana, Nigeria, or Jamaica an active eSIM, a loaded wallet, and a safety framework their program coordinators can customise before arrival.
The signal: brdrs is betting that identity-specific infrastructure — not generic booking tools — is the wedge into an underserved travel market, and that closing the diaspora's "infrastructure gap" can also shift misconceptions about visiting Africa and the Caribbean.
Read more: People of Color in Tech
