Leading Ghanaian Fintech, ZeePay, completes $7.9 million series A funding round

Zeepay, Africa's leading  challenger Fintech, has today announced completion of its Series A.0 fund raise in a round led by  Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P).

The leading Ghanaian Fintech announced that it has completed  a fundraise of $7.9 million in its Series A.0 which was a hybrid of both equity and balance  sheet funds to support its operations.  

Zeepay is a pioneer of digital remittances from the diaspora  to mobile wallets, bank accounts and visa cards across 20 markets in Africa, where it either  operates a mobile money business or has approved partnerships. The business is successfully  transitioning into an integrated omni-channel digital payments and value-added financial services  provider operating across the continent.

The fund raise was led by I&P, an impact investing group with over $250m in assets under  management in the amount of $3 million, and supported by ARK Holdings, a privately held  family investment portfolio on behalf of Andrew Takyi-Appiah (Managing Director) and Zoe  Takyi-Appiah in the amount of $800,000. GOODsoil VC, an African-focused early-stage  venture capital firm committed a follow-on investment to the tune of $800,000 and were advised by Obsidian Achernar, a financial services firm licensed by Bank of Ghana.

The  transaction advisors for this raise were Verdant Capital and JLD & MB legal Consultancy. The company raised a debt of $3.3 million to drive balance sheet activities mainly for liquidity  purposes which was led by Absa Bank Ghana in the amount of $1.8 million and USD1.5  million supported by First National Bank Ghana.
Zeepay, prior to the fund raise had efficiently  deployed a total of about USD450,000 since its go-to-market in May 2016 to achieve a cumulative average growth rate of about 146 percent during the 5 years leading to these  transactions.

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Andrew Takyi-Appiah, Managing Director and Founder of Zeepay mentioned that "Our raise of  USD7.9 million in Series A.0 gives Zeepay a strong capital table, ahead of closing our Series A.5  in the coming months. I am delighted to mention that the raise is coming at the time when we have  successfully moved into our new Commercial Property in Accra."

Mr. Takyi–Appiah further mentioned that "Our performance, I believe is attributable to the Grace of God. Indeed, it is my wish that our Founding Chairman, Dr. Anthony Kwasi Appiah, was here  today as we sign this deal. He played a pivotal role in getting the company to where it is today. May his soul continue to rest in peace. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Mr. Kwame Achampong-Kyei and the GLICO Group for their diligent support over the last 5years."

According to Mr. Yankey, the Chairman of Zeepay, “Our strategy remains to drive our remittance  to digital assets agenda across Africa and the Caribbean and we are excited by the rate of  expansion. We have a number of strategic acquisitions lined up and anticipate closing before year  end”. “We look forward to being able to expand our operations beyond our current 20 countries  and increase our active 30-day business from 13 markets to 20 plus markets across Africa. Indeed,what we celebrate today could not have been possible without the passing of the Payment Systems  Act 2019, which has been a very progressive Government initiative.”

Baafour Otu-Boateng, Investment Director at I&P remarked, “Zeepay has proven itself unique in  its ability to take a leading position in the rapidly growing world of African fintechs while  delivering profitability. We are excited to partner with a management team that has demonstrated  a robust track record of delivering innovative products and services that transform the remittance  and mobile money ecosystems. As an impact investor, we look forward to supporting Zeepay’s  remarkable growth story as the company deepens financial inclusion for millions of users across  Africa.”