Zazuu, an African-focused fintech startup focused on making cross-border payments and remittances easy and as cheap as possible, has raised $2 million in funding to its operations. The funding round saw the participation of Launch Africa, Founders Factory Africa, Hoaq Club, British rapper Tinie Tempah, Kuda’s CEO Babs Ogundeyi, and iRokotv founder and CEO Jason Njoku.
The new fund will be used by the company to fuel growth, hire more talent, and scale its Pay with Zazuu feature that allows users to complete transactions in-app. The company which is only available for senders in the UK and receivers in Nigeria and Ghana will also be embarking on expansion plans to take receivers and senders in more countries on board. “The aim is to build a completely non-biased financial wellbeing for African immigrants across the world,” the company’s CEO Kay Akinwunmi said.
Zazuu, which is based in the UK but is focused on Africa’s remittance space, offers customers various remittance options thus allowing them to have the power to choose the best and most beneficial among remittance providers. The company was started in 2018 by its founders Kay Akinwunmi, Korede Fanilola, Tola Alade, and Tosin Ekolie, who have experienced institutional biases that make it hard to build one’s credit history and send money back home. This problem is exactly what Zazuu is out to solve – providing Africans with services that make cross-border payments and remittances easy, seamless, and beneficial to them.
Speaking on his experience, CEO Kay Akinwunmi said that “We’ve experienced this. Seeing my mom send money and the friction there is pretty much the story of millions of Africans and migrants sending money. “Africans in the diaspora, whether you’re sending money to another side of the world or trying to get a loan here in the U.K., are at a disadvantage,” he said.
Nigeria remains sub-Saharan Africa’s largest recipient of remittance inflow and this currently is standing at a whopping $17 billion.
In recent years, remittance products have become quite saturated and platforms such as Chipper Cash, NALA, Lemonade Finance, etc., have become the top preference for Africans seeking remittance services.
It is pertinent to know that Zazuu initially was launched as a chatbot to help users search for remittance options in their region and compare rates and fees. The chatbot was available via Facebook and Telegram groups which provided members with daily information about remittance rates of different platforms, helping them find the best option. “We looked at the typical African customer to understand their behavior, and we noticed a fascinating trend. We realized that Africans have this pathological behavior, which is, we love to shop around, to compare our choices and try different options before we finally make a decision,” Zazuu’s CEO explained.
Today, Zazuu has over 17 remittances service providers listed on its platform, and its “Search and Compare” service helps users find the best options for themself. “The core of Zazuu is to take power away from financial institutions and money transfer companies, which are inherently biased. We want to give customers this bird’s eye and transparent view so that for the first time, they can see all of the options in one place, including rates, speed, and reviews. The onboarding experience is going to be a lot smoother and much better for them,” he said, comparing Zazuu’s processes to traditional market players,” CEO Kay Akinwunmi added.
Although Zazuu seems to be on the side of its users, CEO Kay Akinwunmi said that “Zazuu is a marketplace, and the reality is customers are shopping around looking for multiple entities to send money. But it is an opportunity for providers to reinforce their brand message or advertise other parts of their business aside from good rates. And as opposed to getting just a referral, we’re bringing real transactional value to them.”
The startup claims to have grown 2.3 times in the first quarter of this year, compared to the whole of last year.
“Zazuu is building a true marketplace for financial services, starting with remittances and payments. We believe their business will bring fairer, more transparent pricing and better cross-border mobility of money across the African continent,” Zach George, managing partner at Launch Africa said.