Waza, a B2B emerging markets payment platform, has successfully closed an $8m funding round comprising both equity and debt.
According to Finextra, this significant financial boost includes a $3m seed equity round from a consortium of institutional and strategic investors, namely Y Combinator, Byld Ventures, Norrsken Africa, Heirloom VC, Plug and Play Tech Center, and Olive Tree Capital. Additionally, Timon Capital has provided $5m in debt funding.
The company specialises in simplifying global payments and liquidity for businesses within emerging markets. By facilitating seamless transactions, Waza is aimed at empowering African businesses, traders, and large organisations to efficiently manage and remit payments to their global suppliers.
The recently acquired funds are earmarked for a variety of strategic initiatives. Primarily, the investment will fuel the pilot of trade financing solutions tailored for the firm’s large enterprise clients, tapping into an additional market potential of $371m across Africa.
Founded by Maxwell Obi and Emmanuel Igbodudu, Waza emerged from stealth mode after 18 months of development, commencing operations in January 2023 as part of YCombinator’s Winter ’23 cohort. With a registered MSB status in the US and a VASP license, Waza operates in Ghana and Nigeria.
The platform has rapidly scaled, serving hundreds of businesses and processing over $700m in annualised payment volume. It facilitates business payments across six continents, boasting a growth rate of 20% per month. Impressively, Waza reached profitability by the fourth quarter of 2023, a status it has maintained into 2024.
Waza CEO Maxwell Obi expressed his enthusiasm for the new funding, stating, “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.”
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