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Appzone, a pan-African fintech software provider building proprietary solutions for the banking and payments industries, has announced the close of a $10-million Series A round.
The new round will accelerate investment in its core technologies and kick off a wave of new country expansions as Appzone aims to build out a financial operating system aimed at fully digitizing and automating financial services on the continent.
Obi Emetarom, the startup’s founder and CEO, said in a statement: “We’re excited not only to be securing a significant capital raise but also welcoming on board some strategic investors whose support will be key to our growth journey. Today’s news allows us to scale Appzone’s products and services rapidly.”
Emetarom added that Appzone products help traditional banks and fintech startups in Africa deal with the sector’s most pressing challenges, such as legacy cost structures and the lack of operational efficiency, amid increasing threats from telecom companies and big tech.
The funding round was led by CardinalStone Capital Advisers, with participation from V8 Capital, Lateral Investment Partners, Constant Capital and Itanna Capital Ventures.
Launched in 2008, Appzone delivers best-in-class products for digital core banking and interbank transaction processing with clients across seven African countries, including Access Bank, GT Bank and Zenith Bank.
Since its inception, Appzone, which is also an alumnus of Google’s Launchpad Accelerator, has led Africa’s fintech sector through radical innovation resulting in a number of world firsts from the continent, such as the world’s first decentralized payment processing network, the first core banking and omnichannel software on the cloud and the first multi-bank direct debit service based on single global mandates.
To date, Appzone’s platforms have served eighteen commercial banks and more than 450 microfinance banks, amassing a yearly transaction value and annual loan disbursement amount of $2 billion and $300 million, respectively.
Appzone’s clients are spread across Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Senegal and Guinea. It has raised $15 million in equity funding from investors such as Lateral Capital, GreenHouse Capital, Timon Capital and Itanna.
In 2018, the company obtained official approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as a Payment Solution Service Provider and has received a number of industry awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Award and awards from the National Association of Microfinance Banks and Committee of eBusiness Industry Heads.
