Ghanaian fintech startup Zeepay has acquired a 51 per cent stake in Zambian counterpart Mangwee as it expands operations into Southern Africa.
Zeepay is focused on digital rails to connect digital assets such as mobile money wallets, cards, ATMs, bank accounts and digital tokens to international money transfer operators, payments, subscriptions, international airtime and refugee payments.
The startup has a footprint in more than 20 African markets, and in April 2020 was awarded an Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) license to operate as a mobile financial services company by the Bank of Ghana, the regulator of banking and financial services. It secured a US$940,000 seed funding round in December.
Zeepay has now acquired 51 per cent of the shares in Mangwee, a mobile money transfer platform aimed at increasing the rate of financial inclusion, especially in rural areas. The deal is the first of its kind, with two indigenous African fintechs with mobile money operations joining forces. Zeepay’s managing director Andrew Takyi-Appiah said the acquisition was strategic and opened up the Southern African corridor for Zeepay.
“This will give Zeepay access to Mozambique, Malawi, Angola and Namibia amongst others in
our efforts to capture Africa’s US$70 billion remittance market and the opportunity to deploy our award winning products,” he said.
Mangwee founders Bwalya Kampamba and Aston Njovu said the partnership with Zeepay was good for Africa and Zambia.
“Through this we will be able to leverage their award winning mobile money products such as remit insurance, payments, and Visa-direct to deepen financial inclusion and open up the markets,” they said.
