Cote d’Ivoire’s Bizao, a fintech firm has announced an €8 million series A funding that will see the company grow outside its native home in West Africa to additional countries in the continent. has expanded its operations in 10 African countries (Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tunisia, Togo, Gabon) and has built a robust and cutting-edge infrastructure that processes over 350 million payment requests per month.
The founding round was led by AfricInvest Financial Inclusion Vehicle (AfricInvest FIVE), a leading private equity company with operations in Africa. Adelie, a multi-stage venture capital fund focused on technology companies – Seedstars Africa Ventures, an Africa-focused early-stage venture capital fund, also participated in the transaction.
Bizao was launched back in 2019. It facilitates the processing of end-to-end payments, which flow to and from the main digital payment systems in Africa, including mobile money wallets, credit card,s and airtime purchases.
Over the period it has been operational, Bizao has expanded its operations in 10 African countries so far. These are Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tunisia, Togo, and Gabon. It has built a platform that processes over 350 million payment requests per month.
Besides, Bizao’s product allows its users to collect and issue payments online and in-stores via point-of-sale (POS).
The technology used by Bizao ensures end-to-end transactions traceability, matching the latest standards of banking and finance regulation to prevent fraud and money laundering.
This, ultimately, enables Bizao to deepen its relationship with its partners.
Following its launch, Bizao has secured, in the said 10 African countries, over 30 partnerships with telcos, banks, and mobile money service providers.
Quotes
“Through our equity investments in financial institutions including banks, insurance companies, and high potential fintechs, 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
“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” said Aurélien Delort-Duval, Founder and CEO of Bizao.
“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.
