UAE-Based enza Lands $6.75M to Scale Across African Markets

Africa’s financial sector offers a huge chance to serve over 60 million SMEs that need better banking solutions. UAE-based fintech startup enza recently raised $6.75 million in seed funding through joint leadership from Algebra Ventures and Quona Capital. The company serves six African markets, including South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt. Banks and fintech companies can now provide their customers with essential payment features through cards, wallets, and live payment solutions. The startup has showed remarkable success by processing more than 10 million monthly contracted transactions with its banking partners. The company’s growth numbers are impressive with 35-40% increases in transaction volumes each month. This expansion helps bring financial services to underserved businesses throughout Africa.

enza Secures $6.75M to Transform African Banking Infrastructure

Dubai-based fintech startup enza raised AED 24.79 million ($6.75 million) in seed funding. This marks the company’s first external capital investment. Algebra Ventures and Quona Capital, two prominent venture capital firms that specialize in emerging markets, co-led the funding round.

The company started in 2023 by payment industry veterans who brought their extensive experience from global and African markets. CEO Hany Fekry and co-founder Hamish Houston, both former Network International executives, lead the company with decades of specialized expertise.

“We are thrilled to partner with Algebra Ventures and Quona Capital, who share our vision of the potential to transform financial services in Africa through the digitisation of payments,” said Hany Fekry, CEO of enza. “This investment is a strong endorsement of our team, our market-leading services, and our commitment to empowering banks and fintechs to drive financial inclusion across the continent.”

The new capital will help enza strengthen its presence in key African markets and build deeper partnerships that respond better to its growing client base’s local needs. The company will also use these funds to grow its team and launch new products for banks.

Tarek Assaad, Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures, expressed confidence in the company’s trajectory: “enza is exceptionally well-positioned to transform Africa’s payments ecosystem by delivering the essential infrastructure that banks and fintechs require for success. The enza leadership team have an impressive track record of starting, growing and exiting fintech businesses across the continent.”

The founders bootstrapped the company before this external funding round. Enza now operates in key markets like Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa. The company wants to use this investment to speed up its mission of creating more inclusive, opportunity-driven commerce throughout Africa.

How enza Tackles Unique Payment Challenges Across Africa Map

Africa’s complex payment landscape creates unique infrastructure challenges that enza addresses with its complete technology platform. Traditional payment processors focus only on merchant acquiring, but enza’s solution supports both sides of the transaction chain. The platform works with banks and fintechs on the issuing side, and SMEs and merchants on the acceptance side.

Enza’s core approach involves deep integration with regional and global payment systems. This lets financial institutions offer locally relevant payment options. The platform connects with domestic card schemes like Nigeria’s Verve, Egypt’s Meeza, and the pan-African AfriGo. It also supports international networks including Visa and Mastercard.

The platform’s infrastructure handles the fragmented African payment systems through smooth integration with:

• Real-time payment networks specific to each market (Nigeria’s NIBSS, South Africa’s PayShap, Egypt’s InstaPay)
• Mobile money platforms and telco wallets critical in underbanked regions
• QR code payments, contactless transactions, and buy-now-pay-later services

This versatility helps enza’s clients cut transaction costs substantially. Banks can now serve larger markets profitably that were underserved before. The platform gets more transaction data and thus encourages more financial institutions to cross-sell additional financial services products.

The platform, just a year old since 2023, has secured over 10 million monthly contracted transactions. These come through strategic bank collaborations across six African countries: Rwanda, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, and South Africa. The transactions are growing at an impressive rate of 35-40% month-over-month.

Enza’s services go beyond simple transaction processing. They give banks the ability to regain market share from agile fintech startups by offering competitive digital solutions. Banks retain control over regulatory compliance and transparency. This approach helps financial institutions separate themselves in competitive markets while attracting new customers with relevant products.

Banks Deploy enza’s Technology to Reach Unbanked Populations

Africa faces a major banking challenge with only 54% of adults having bank accounts, even though cell phone usage reached 61% in 2023. This gap creates perfect conditions for enza’s technology to connect traditional banking with people who don’t have bank accounts.

Digital wallets are the life-blood of financial access in the region. The Sub-Saharan African market has 835 million registered mobile money accounts, which makes up nearly 50% of global share and processes about AED 9.18 billion daily. Enza has positioned its platform to support banks and fintechs that issue services, while also helping SMEs and merchants who accept payments.

Payments help millions of unbanked small businesses in Africa take their first step into formal finance. Enza helps financial institutions build lasting relationships with hard-to-reach customers by letting these businesses accept payments both in-person and online at low costs. This resilient infrastructure also helps sell additional services like lending, savings, and insurance products.

The mobile money ecosystem has showed remarkable success in expanding financial inclusion:

• Mobile wallet services with savings features grew from 39% to 44% between 2022 and 2023
• International remittances through mobile channels reached AED 106.49 billion in 2023—jumping one-third from last year
• Enza’s platform transactions grow 35-40% each month

Banks have lost infrastructure and SME market share to fintech players like Flutterwave and Moniepoint over the years. However, they still have advantages through better service offerings and regulatory support. Enza’s platform gives banks the technology they need to compete effectively in these markets.

Financial inclusion’s future looks bright across the continent. Digital wallet adoption keeps growing faster, backed by cheaper smartphones and better 4G/5G networks.

Enza’s $6.75 million seed funding round marks a major step forward in its task to revolutionize African banking infrastructure. The company offers complete payment solutions that bridge financial gaps in six African nations. Their platform shows impressive results by processing 10 million transactions monthly, with 35-40% growth each month.

Banks that team up with enza get vital tools to help underbanked populations. Their technology lets financial institutions deliver competitive digital solutions while they retain control of regulatory compliance. These partnerships then create ways for millions of unbanked people and SMEs to use formal financial services.

African financial sector faces a defining moment as more people adopt digital wallets. Without doubt, enza’s resilient infrastructure helps banks win back market share from fintech rivals and reach more customers. The company’s growth and breakthroughs will shape Africa’s digital banking future and bring banking services to communities that never had access before.