Nigerian fintech, Waza, has secured $8 million in equity and debt funding and says it is coming out of stealth mode.
The round includes $3 million in equity from:
- Y Combinator
- Byld Ventures
- Norrsken Africa
- Heirloom VC
- Plug and Play Tech Center, and
- Olive Tree Capital
The funding will help support its expansion into new markets beyond its current operations in Ghana and Nigeria.
Lagos and New York-based Timon Capital provided $5 million in venture debt financing which will be used to pilot trade financing for its large enterprise clients.
One of the few African startups that made it to Y Combinator in 2023 (W23 Batch), Waza has built a platform and payment rails that improve USD liquidity for users while providing a secure, easier, and more affordable way to make their global payments.
A Look at the Latest W23 African Startups Batch Accepted into Y-Combinator – All Nigerian 🇳🇬
African startups that have been backed by YC have gone on to raise $1.5 more billion.https://t.co/nxZ0cl0UOr pic.twitter.com/kZHoRkIsrB
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) January 21, 2023
Through its platform, it claims to be able to provide liqudity to support African businesses, traders, and other large organisations to pay their suppliers globally. Put more succinctly, the startup facilitates business payments and liquidity management across six continents for hundreds of clients, cutting across the three categories with different needs.
Since launching operations in January 2023, the company has since served hundreds of businesses, processing over $700 million in annualised payment volume, facilitating business payments across six continents, and impressively growing at 20 percent monthly.
It achieved profitability in the fourth quarter of 2023 and has successfully sustained its profitability into 2024.
“We are excited to announce this new funding that brings us closer to our vision of transforming B2B payments and access to liquidity for businesses across the continent.
By providing a more efficient settlement infrastructure, we are bridging the foreign exchange and liquidity gap and empowering African businesses to access more global trade opportunities that will drive economic growth and development in the markets we serve,” said founder, Maxwell Obi.
“We’re thankful for the support and commitment of our investors and partners, who have been essential in the delivery of this mission.”
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