South African payments gateway Ozow raises $48M Series B led by Tencent
Today Ozow announced thier $48m Series B funding round, which was led by world-leading internet and technology company Tencent.
The investment round also includes Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest Fund. Notably, Endeavor Catalyst’s investment committee approval was chaired by partner of Greylock, and co-founder and former executive chairman of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman.
CEO and co-founder of Ozow, Thomas Pays, is excited about the partnerships that have been formed with our new investors: “It’s an honour to bring on board Tencent, Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest Fund. This is a validation of our role in transforming the banking industry through the development of innovative, convenient, and more inclusive payment solutions for everyone.”
From the day Ozow started, we’ve been ambitious, and driven to develop and innovate. This desire is why we’ve been able to create solutions that drive financial inclusion. Our commitment to this cause has paid off. This series B funding round will enable us to provide millions more people with easy, fast, and secure alternative payment solutions.
The fact that we can announce our series B is thanks to how busy we’ve been since our series A funding round held in June 2019.
Since then, Ozow has seen a 100% year-on-year growth of its business.
We’re continuing to scale rapidly, processing over $100m in transaction volumes monthly across a network of thousands of merchants. Our user base also continues to see increased growth, with more than 120 000 users joining the platform each month.
Now with this funding round, we will only keep growing.
This includes developing new products, and expanding into Africa. To help us achieve all of this, we’re also placing a strong focus on strategic investments that include mergers and acquisitions.
Our mission has always been to develop innovative payment solutions that enable millions of businesses and consumers to participate in our growing digital economy.
It’s why we’re excited about this next step in our journey.
Our Series B helps to fuel our rocket ship, as we continue to play our part in transforming the way people pay and get paid.
