Africas leading resource for digital financial services
East Africa
Zoona raises $15 mln to reach 10 markets by 2020
African financial technology company Zoona has successfully raised $15 million in a Series B round of financing, showing an improvement from the first round of investment which was for $4 million. International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the lead investor.
“This investment round marks a key milestone in our journey to build a billion-dollar business that helps communities thrive,” says Mike Quinn, CEO of Zoona.
With the IFC only investing up to 50% of any given round of investment, it is joined in this investment round by first round investors Accion, Omidyar Network and Lundin Foundation.
Omidyar Network, which was founded by Pierre Omidyar, doubles its investment in the Series B round. The round also includes investment from 4Di Capital, a venture capital firm based in South Africa’s “Silicon Cape”, headed up by entrepreneur, investor and Zoona non-executive director Justin Stanford. Another investor, Lundin Foundation, provides capital to high potential businesses to create wealth and alleviate poverty, increased its investment in Zoona during this round. Only MEDA is not investing in the second round because its mandate is for early stage SEED investment and not for organisations seeking to upscale.
“Our existing Series A investors increased their investment to make up the remainder of the investment round. They did this because they share our values, back the leadership team and are as passionate as Zoona is about helping communities thrive,” says Quinn.
Zoona’s mobile money platform has already enabled more than 1,000 entrepreneurs to become Zoona Agents, creating over 2,500 jobs at 1,500 agent outlets in the process. It aims to reach 10 markets and 30 million active consumers across Africa by 2020.
“Zoona has made this possible in Zambia and Malawi and is planning to do the same in many other markets in Africa. Whether in the form of a money transfer or a cash collection network, these retail footprints play an important role in acceptance and adoption of the new form of money and will be critical for the financial service industry as it transforms itself,” says Andi Dervishi, Global Head of IFC’s Fintech Investment Group.
Zoona uses technology to provide financial services to underserved and financially excluded communities across Africa. It has over 1.5 million active users with its system and has processed over $1 billion in mobile money transactions since its founding 2009.?
SOURCE:CNBC
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