Ghana’s OZÉ gets $3M to scale its digital recordkeeping and embedded finance products

OZÉ, a Ghanaian fintech startup that gives digital recordkeeping instruments with embedded finance merchandise to medium and small companies, has raised a $3 million pre-Collection A spherical.

The startup’s new financing spherical was led by European early-stage VC Speedinvest, with participation from Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, Savannah Capital and different unnamed angel buyers. This information follows the $700,000 seed funding OZÉ secured final 12 months.

Up to now 18 months, a number of startups serving medium and small companies with credit score, bookkeeping instruments and an working system to handle their operations have elevated immensely. A number of of them embrace Kippa, Bumpa and Sabi Money.

However OZÉ launched some time again earlier than the house turned scorching owing to newfound investor curiosity in African startups. CEO Meghan McCormick and chief working officer, Dave Emnett based the corporate in 2018 following a collection of travels McCormick made throughout Africa, the place she seen the challenges small companies face and their dire want for monetary and recordkeeping instruments to thrive.

“Working so intently with small enterprise house owners, I understood the issues they confronted. And having seen how small companies within the U.S. operated as a baby, and seeing sort of the tech stack or the service stack that SMEs have over there, I had a very good understanding of the answer set,” mentioned McCormick on a name with TechCrunch.

“And placing these two issues collectively, we’ve been in a position to create a platform tailor-made to the realities of at present. But additionally actually pushing in direction of what’s attainable for enterprise house owners in Ghana and Nigeria, who has a smartphone of their pocket.”

OZÉ boasts of a shopper base of greater than 125,000 enterprise house owners in Ghana and Nigeria. That quantity is simply a drop within the ocean of greater than 100 million small companies throughout West Africa that OZÉ says is its addressable market. Historically these companies have operated as brick-and-mortar enterprises operating on pen-and-paper. Now, as they appear to construct on-line presences, demand for know-how and monetary merchandise to digitize companies is growing. 

OZÉ’s enterprise app helps these medium and small companies collate gross sales, bills, payables, receivables and buyer information. This information is analyzed to supply companies with assist starting from tailor-made suggestions, reviews by each day enterprise ideas, month-to-month enterprise seminars and entry to an on-demand enterprise coach. 

Primarily based on how companies use the platform, OZÉ generates efficiency and behavioural information, which it makes use of to foretell their credit score dangers and create different credit score scores. The startup companions with monetary establishments (banks and fintechs) to lend to companies that want loans.

“OZÉ’s strategies and relationship to enterprise house owners imply that loans made by the platform may be collateral-free, bigger and paid again over an extended interval with out growing threat,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.

On the decision, McCormick mentioned credit score is primarily supplied to prospects who’re lively on the OZÉ app for not less than 30 days. The extra strong the enterprise’ behavioural part and credit score rating, the longer such enterprise can have, she mentioned. Additionally, companies on the platform take a median mortgage of $5,000 whereas paying as much as 36% APR.

Related platforms present credit score and recordkeeping companies, however McCormick rapidly factors out what makes her firm stand out. “I feel the tight integration between file retaining, credit score and now funds is an actual aggressive issue when it comes to the enterprise mannequin that we will run. And it units off a flywheel in the best way that simply being a file keeper and firm or simply being a digital lender wouldn’t,” the chief government mentioned.

“Many of the small companies know that they need to be retaining data. However retaining any data, digital or not, is a behavioural change. And so, we’ve constructed a robust basis of behavioural science into our app in order that OZÉ turns into habit-forming.”

OZÉ’s positioning because the coach, accomplice and advisor of the companies on its platform ensures that they’ve entry to a neighborhood of different enterprise house owners, study, develop and do commerce collectively. The platform is making an attempt to take this concept of constructing accounting social, she mentioned.

On the credit score finish, OZÉ can faucet into companies’ cash-based efficiency information and supply higher loans after getting psychological perception into mechanically recorded transactions.

The Ghanaian fintech lately launched a funds integration to permit its companies to gather funds on the platform. In Ghana, companies can settle for funds through cell cash or card and a financial institution switch or card in Nigeria. Based on the corporate, companies that use OZÉ as a selection of fee as a substitute of utilizing different platforms or money can have greater credit score limits and decrease rates of interest.

Final 12 months, OZÉ’s lively month-to-month customers grew by 1,200%. The corporate mentioned that the variety of loans granted on the platform additionally elevated by 200% from Q3 to This autumn of 2021. OZE additionally claims that 97% of enterprise house owners utilizing the platform run companies which might be rising, worthwhile, or each. 

On the corporate’s subsequent steps following its latest funding, McCormick mentioned OZÉ would construct out its crew, purchase extra prospects, deepen its presence in Ghana and Nigeria, and start growth plans into new African markets.