Nigeria’s Waza, a payment and liquidity platform for emerging market businesses, has secured US$8 million in equity and debt funding to make it easier for African businesses, traders, and other large organisations to manage and pay their suppliers globally.
Waza is a B2B payment and liquidity provider that makes it easier for large enterprises and multinational organisations in emerging markets to manage and pay their suppliers globally. The company has built a platform and payment rails that improve USD liquidity for users while providing a secure, easier, and more affordable way to make their global payments.
Founded by Maxwell Obi, who previously co-founded and exited Amplify, a Nigeria-based fintech that was acquired by Carbon in 2019, and Emmanuel Igbodudu, who has held senior roles at Revolut, Moniepoint, Fairmoney, and Carbon, is a MSB-registered entity in the US and a VASP-licensed company with operations in Nigeria and Ghana.
The startup began operations in stealth in January 2023 after joining Y Combinator’s Winter 23 batch, and has since served hundreds of businesses, processing over US$700 million in annualised payment volume, facilitating business payments across six continents, and impressively growing at 20 per cent monthly. It achieved profitability in the fourth quarter of 2023 and has successfully sustained its profitability into 2024.
The funding includes a US$3 million seed equity round from institutional and strategic investors like Y Combinator, Byld Ventures, Norrsken Africa, Heirloom VC, Plug and Play Tech Center, Olive Tree Capital, and others. The US$5 million debt funding was secured from Timon Capital and will be strategically invested in piloting trade financing for their large enterprise clients, an additional US$371 billion market in Africa.
Waza will use the funding to support its expansion into new markets beyond its current operations in Ghana and Nigeria, as well as the delivery of new trade finance solutions.
“We are excited to announce this new funding that brings us closer to our vision of transforming B2B payments and access to liquidity for businesses across the continent. 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. We’re thankful for the support and commitment of our investors and partners, who have been essential in the delivery of this mission,” Obi said.
