A fintech company, Bizao has announced an €8 million series A funding to accelerate its geographical footprint on the continent and invest in the design of new lines of products and services.
The company facilitates payments for both local and international businesses operating in Africa.
According to a report by ‘TechEconomy,’ the funding round was led by AfricInvest Financial Inclusion Vehicle (AfricInvest FIVE), a leading private equity company with operations in Africa, and Adelie, a multi-stage venture capital fund focused on technology companies – Seedstars Africa Ventures, an Africa focused early-stage venture capital fund.
“Through our equity investments in financial institutions including banks, insurance companies, and high potential fintech, we support the acceleration of universal access to financial services. Our investment in Bizao is in line with this high-impact strategy aiming to support financial inclusion in Africa,” said Omar Bekkali, Partner at AfricInvest.
“It is the future of financial services that is orchestrating itself in Africa; mobile money has enabled more than 60% of the population on the continent to finally have access to basic financial services. The penetration rate of mobile on the continent is close to 100% and we are witnessing a growth in the use of credit cards. We are convinced that a platform combining all these payment methods has exceptional growth potential.” said Jean-Manuel Costa, Managing Partner at Adelie.
“With more than 600 million mobile money accounts, Africa is the ultimate place for mobile payments. Yet 90% of transactions are still settled in cash. Bizao tackles a major societal issue and can help unlock African trade potential. To achieve this goal, Bizao leverages its payment Hub which is one of the most technically robust. In addition, Bizao’s African internationalization strategy matches that of the companies we support” said Tamim El Zein, Partner at Seedstars Africa Ventures.” the report said.
The report also quoted Bizao’s founder and CEO, Aurélien Delort-Duval saying “We have spent the last few years working closely with our partners (telecoms operators, banks, and mobile wallet providers) to improve our products and services in line with our customer requirements. Thanks to this close collaboration with industry players, we have multiplied the transaction volumes processed by our platform by almost 20 over the past 12 months. This round of financing will enable us to design new product lines for high-potential vertically integrated organizations, expand in new markets and grow the team across all our offices”.