Zazuu, a U.K.-based and Africa-focused fintech that provides customers with numerous remittance choices, has announced a $2 million investment round.
Pan-African investors Launch Africa and Founders Factory Africa, Hoaq Club, ODBA VC, Jonomi Ventures, British artist Tinie Tempah, iROKOtv founder and CEO Jason Njoku, and Kuda chief executive Babs Ogundeyi also participated in Zazuu’s investment round.
The new investment will be used to maintain these levels, hire more talent, and scale its Pay with Zazuu function, which allows users to complete transactions in-app. Although this service is currently only available to senders in the United Kingdom and receivers in Nigeria and Ghana, Zazuu hopes to expand access to more sender and receiver nations in the future. A couple of solutions that address financial issues faced by African immigrants, such as access to credit, are also in the pipeline.
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“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, Launch Africa’s managing partner, said.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Founded in 2018 by CEO Kay Akinwunmi,Korede Fanilola, Tola Alade and Tosin Ekolie, Zazuu, Zazuu is a remittance service that enables its customers to send money back to their home countries.
“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,” CEO Kay Akinwunmi said. “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.”
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Zazuu began as a chatbot in 2020, notifying users of the daily remittance prices of various platforms via Facebook and Telegram groups, to assist users seek these numerous money transfer choices in their region and compare rates and costs.
The initial product, according to the CEO, helped remove clients’ preconceived assumptions about which service had the best prices as they were introduced to different suppliers. The product is currently a full-fledged aggregator, with over 17 service providers (money transfer companies that serve various corridors) listed. It offers money transfer alternatives from Canada, the United States, and seven European nations, including the United Kingdom, allowing clients to use its “Search and Compare” function to identify companies that can send money from these countries to Africa.
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“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.
Customers understand Zazuu’s proposal; nevertheless, it can be difficult to grasp what’s in it for platform providers. However, Akinwunmi claims that his technology addresses the most critical pain points for providers: churn and high customer acquisition expenses.
“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,” he said.
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Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh