Ghanaian Fintech Startup OZÉ Raises $3Million pre-Series A Round

OZÉ Raises $3Million pre-Series A Round

Ghanaian fintech Startup OZÉ has raised $3Million in a pre-Series A funding round.

The Ghanaian based Startup providing digital recordkeeping tools to medium and small businesses (MSME’s) has made tremendous strides following the $700,000 seed funding OZÉ secured last year.

According to Techcrunch’s Tage Kene-Okafor report, OZÉ’s financing round was led by European early-stage VC Speedinvest, with participation from Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, Savannah Capital other unnamed angel investors.

OZÉ boasts of a client base of more than 125,000 business owners in Ghana and Nigeria. That number is just a drop in the ocean of more than 100 million small businesses across West Africa that OZÉ says is its addressable market. Traditionally, these businesses have operated as brick-and-mortar enterprises running on pen-and-paper; as they look to build an online presence, demand for technology and financial products to digitise businesses increases.

Based on how businesses use the platform, OZÉ generates performance and behavioural data, which it uses to predict their credit risks and create alternative credit scores. The startup partners with financial institutions (banks and fintechs) to lend to businesses that need loans.

OZÉ’s business app helps these medium and small businesses collate sales, expenses, payables, receivables and customer data. This data is analysed to provide businesses with support ranging from tailored recommendations, reports through daily business tips, monthly business seminars and access to an on-demand business coach.

Speaking to DT Africa on what the pre-Series A round investment would mean for OZÉ, CEO Meghan McCormick said, “this capital will allow us to continue to invest in building a platform that truly helps small businesses in Ghana and Nigeria to collect their data, use it to make better decisions, and access the financing they need to fuel growth.”

OZÉ seems to be playing a vital role in Africa’s Traditional Industry

The Fintech Startup prides itself on enabling small businesses and local ownership to grow with technology, particularly in emerging markets. By providing small businesses with the data they need to make decisions, OZÉ enables investment readiness and a chance for a local economy to assert itself on a global stage.

Having recently launched a payments integration to allow its businesses to collect payments on the platform, Ghanaian and Nigerian businesses can now accept payments via Mobile Money, cards and bank transfer. According to the company, businesses that use OZÉ as a choice of payment instead of using other platforms or cash will have higher credit limits and lower interest rates.

Last year, OZÉ’s active monthly users grew by 1,200%. The company said that the number of loans granted on the platform increased by 200% from Q3 to Q4 of 2021. OZÉ also claims that 97% of business owners using the platform run businesses that are growing, profitable, or both.

With Nigeria in the lead, the African Fintech space was notorious for its growth in 2021, and OZÉ seems to be taking an early leap in 2022. Currently, Ghana ranks No.7 in the first ten spots for Africa’s Startup Capital according to a report by Statistica,

On the company’s future steps following its recent funding, McCormick said, “I’m particularly excited that in 2022 we will be able to reach more customers with more services as we begin expansion plans into new African markets.