Ghana’s Zeepay plans to raise $10m in equity funding to support the creation of new mobile-money hubs in East and Southern Africa.
Ghanaian fintech startup, Zeepay is planning to raise $10 million in equity funding to support the creation of new mobile money hubs in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Andrew Takyi-Appiah, co-founder and managing director, told The Africa Report that Zeepay aims to close the fundraising round by the end of June and use the money for marketing and distribution, hiring, and creating mobile money hubs.
The new hubs, which will include processing centres and back offices, are likely to be in Rwanda and South Africa. The managing director adds that the use of Swahili in Rwanda makes it a good platform from which to reach out to other markets in the region.
Zeepay is active in nine markets and aims to enter a further nine new countries this year. These will include Burkina Faso, Gambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Madagascar, though a physical presence will only be needed in countries chosen as hubs.
Zeepay has lined up partnerships with Orange, MTN, and local players which will enable it to operate.
- The company is aiming for 100,000 transactions per month in each of its new markets.
- In total, Zeepay is targeting 2 million transactions in 2021 for a value of $400m.
- Venture capital firm GOODsoil VC recently bought out one of Zeepay’s shareholders. The fact that GOODsoil has the Ghanaian foreign-exchange (FX) broker Obsidian Achernar in its portfolio will add value to its stake in Zeepay, says Takyi-Appiah. He adds that Zeepay will be able to offer better FX rates and will have liquidity available for settlement.
Zeepay has lined up partnerships with Orange, MTN, and local players which will enable it to operate.
Credit: The Africa Report