Waza, a Nigerian B2B payment and liquidity provider for emerging market businesses, has secured $8 million in equity and debt funding to establish new trade finance solutions and expand into new markets beyond its current operations in Ghana and Nigeria.
The funding is comprised of a $3 million initial equity round from investors including Y Combinator, Byld Ventures, Norrsken Africa, Heirloom VC, Plug and Play Tech Centre, and Olive Tree Capital, as well as $5 million in debt funding from Timon Capital to pilot trade financing for large enterprise clients.
Maxwell Obi, a two-time founder, and Emmanuel Igbodudu, a senior software engineer, established Waza, a money services business-registered entity in the United States and a virtual asset service provider-licensed company. Waza has developed a B2B payment and liquidity platform that simplifies the process of emerging market businesses paying their suppliers on a global scale.
Maxwell Obi, the CEO, and co-founder of Waza, stated that this development brings the startup closer to revolutionizing B2B payments and access to liquidity for businesses throughout the continent.
Obi added, “By providing a more efficient settlement infrastructure, we are bridging the foreign exchange and liquidity gap and empowering African businesses to access more global trade opportunities that will drive economic growth and development in the markets we serve.”
In January 2023, the startup commenced operations in stealth mode following its enrolment in the Winter 23 cohort of Y Combinator. It claims that it has since served hundreds of businesses, facilitating business payments across six continents and processing over $700 million in annualized payment volume. Additionally, it has seen a 20% monthly growth rate.
The startup received $1.2 million in pre-seed funding in January 2023 to facilitate the development of payment infrastructure for emerging markets.
The company achieved profitability in the fourth quarter of 2023 and has effectively sustained it into 2024, according to the company.
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