Nigerian-based fintech software provider, Appzone has joined the list of African countries pushing fronts to establish its presence, and bringing investment capital to the continent.
The company, which is one of the few companies that builds proprietary solutions for financial institutions, as well as banking and payments services, has raised $10m in Series A funding round.
According to a statement released to the company’s website, the funding round was led by CardinalStone Capital Advisers with participation from V8 Capital, Lateral Investment Partners, Constant Capital, and Itanna Capital Ventures.
The company noted that the funds raised in this round, will be used to push its expansion and build unrivaled financial technologies in Africa.
“The new round will bolster investment in Appzone’s core technologies and kickoff a wave of new country expansions in a drive to build out a financial operating system intended to completely digitise and automate the delivery of financial services on the continent,” Appzone stated.
The company, which is based in Lagos, Nigeria, was founded by Emeka Emetarom, Obi Emetarom and Wale Onawunmi. Appzone aims to divert the focus of financial institutions from relying on foreign technologies to solve their problems.
Appzone started operations in 2008, and has since, delivered high quality banking technologies to A-list banks across seven countries on the African continent.
Speaking on the mandate and operations of the company, co-founder and CEO, Obi Ematarom, said that he likes to describe Appzone as a fintech product ecosystem with an emphasis on proprietary technology.
“Most of these companies operating in end-user applications have to depend on services from core banking and interbank processing to be able to get their own offerings out there. For us, I think we have an advantage in terms of costs and flexibility because we are already operating in both layers,” Ematarom added.
The company, therefore, boasted that its “platforms have served 18 commercial banks and over 450 microfinance banks, amassing a yearly transaction value and yearly loan disbursement of $2bn and $300mn respectively.“
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Commenting on the investment round, co-founder and managing director of CardinalStone Capital Advisers, Yomi Jemibewon, said the firm’s investment in Appzone is further proof of Africa’s potential as the future hub of world-class technology.
“Appzone is building a disruptive fintech ecosystem that will be the backbone of Africa’s finance industry with products across payments, infrastructure and software as a service. The impact of Appzone’s work is multifold — the company’s products deepen financial inclusion across the continent whilst providing best-fit and low-cost solutions to financial institutions. Its emphasis on premium talent also helps stem brain drain, rewarding Africa’s best brains with best in class employment opportunities,” he added.