Born out of an intrapreneurship program offered by the Orange Group, Bizao, now independent, is accelerating its development. The fintech has created a platform facilitating the acceptance of mobile payments in Africa, and is already processing some one hundred million transactions a month.
Democratizing access to financial services for businesses
Bizao is a fintech founded in 2019, headquartered in Paris and present in around ten African countries. The company's mission is tosupport merchants in digitizing their online and in-store payment flows. To achieve this, it has developed a robust, secure platform capable of processing over 270 million requests per month.
The solution, already used by numerous multinationals, SMEs, associations and public administrations, providesaccess to all payment methods offered by Bizao partners and telecoms operators (Orange, MTN, Free...). There are no hidden costs for merchants. The startup boasts the best rate on the market, starting at 2% on merchant payments.
Accessible to merchants with or without a website, and with or without a mobile application, Bizao's platform provides a tailored response to the fundraising and remittance needs of professionals, whatever their digital maturity.
8 million euros in fund-raising
Following its independence from the French Orange Group, the fintech has raised €8 million in Series A funding to expand its activities on the continent to new countries. The arrival of AfricInvest, a leading private equity player dedicated to Africa, technology fund Adelie and venture capital fund Seedstars Africa Ventures in the round table, has enabled the company to " strengthen the Fintech's governance bodies while consolidating its research and development strategy, aimed at designing innovative payment products and services ", recently announced Aurélien Duval Delort, founder and CEO of Bizao.
Since its creation, Bizao has already helped some 100 companies in Africa to digitize their payment flows, and forged some 30 partnerships with banks and telecoms operators.
This round of financing should enable the company to invest more in customer acquisition and product innovation " while strengthening its operational performance and recruitment policy ", adds Aurélien Duval Delort.
These objectives are all the more important given that Bizao faces strong competitors in the payments market. Nigerian fintech Paystack, acquired by Stripe for $200 million, also offers a wide range of payment methods. Unlike Bizao, which has established itself in West Africa and more recently in North Africa, Paystack is mainly present in East Africa. Other players specializing in payment solutions include CinetPay, FedaPay, AfrikPay and PayDunya, most of which are available exclusively for e-commerce.
We are pleased to announce that @BizaoOfficiel has raised €8M in a round led by @AfricInvest_Grp, with the participation of #Adelie and @Seedstars. https://t.co/wqXDffPWvY
- Bizao (@BizaoOfficiel) July 22, 2022