The Zeepay story is a notable one given its foundations as a bootstrapped startup born in 2014.
Zeepay, an indigenous African brand, founded in Ghana in West Africa, has proven that technology has indeed democratized the world and accelerated globalization.
Although the fintech originated in Ghana, it has successfully expanded its footprint globally, becoming an African business success story in the 21st century. Zeepay has demonstrated that when fintech companies develop a robust strategy, international expansion becomes significantly more achievable.
Currently, the brand has mobile money licenses and approvals in six countries: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Zambia, and Barbados in the Caribbean, with license applications pending in three African countries and three Caribbean markets. This enables the brand to stand tall alongside other global mobile money brands operating in Africa.
The key difference is that Zeepay is not only indigenous to Africa but also operates as a non-telco. In addition to the mobile money licenses mentioned above, Zeepay’s presence extends to over 20 markets on the continent, where it specializes in remittance termination.
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Achieving this has not been an easy feat. It requires the leadership of founder, Andrew Takyi-Appiah, who has overcome numerous challenges and fierce competition to turn this vision into reality.
Approximately 10 years ago, Zeepay entered the market to bridge the cross-border payments gap and reduce the cost of remittances, which was on average 10-15% of the principal amount sent at that time. At inception, the brand’s mandate was to work with remittance service providers by enabling them to make payments directly into digital assets such as mobile money wallets, bank accounts, and cards (debit and prepaid), while providing market access for the varied money transfer operators across the value chain—traditional service providers, disruptors, and corridor specialists.
By doing so, it reduced the regulatory red tape and improved time to market. Subsequently, after having processed over $6.7 billion worth of transactions in volume over the last 10 years, the brand’s strategy is to expand its business model by converting all the current termination markets into mobile money opportunities, with the hope of becoming the largest mobile money operator in Africa by geography and, subsequently, by volume.
Zeepay is currently testing outbound payments in Ghana and Zambia, and positioning itself to support the fulfillment of the Africa free trade dream.
“In the medium term, my objective is to create one of Africa’s largest and most successful mobile money operations – meaning we will be fully licensed in over 20 countries,” says Takyi-Appiah, a product of the University of California, Los Angeles.
After successfully raising $17 million from Investisseurs & Partenaires, Injaro, OikoCredit, and Africa50, and a follow-on round by Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund, the company is optimistic that investor confidence in the brand remains strong. Especially notable is the retention of the initial private equity investment, with follow-on funding by Investisseurs & Partenaires with an additional $2 million.
Zeepay sees this as a strong testament to the brand’s promising growth trajectory.
Going forward, the fintech, over the next 18 months, anticipates completing an aggressive funding round in Series B, achieving Unicorn status, and implementing its expansion into Canada, the USA, and Europe.
It is also poised to increase its African market share and to grow its balance sheet from the current $58 million to $80 million, all while remaining a cross-border fintech giant, serving the global community.
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