Zoona, a fintech startup focused on mobile money transfer between Zambia and Malawi, raised USD15m to scale up its operations.
The investment will help Zoona to achieve its goal of reaching 10 markets and 30m active consumers across Africa by 2020.
The lead investor with USD6m is the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group (WBG). Other investors include 4Di Capital, a venture capital firm, Lundin Foundation, Accion and Omidyar Network.
Zoona CEO Mike Quinn said: “This investment round marks a key milestone in our journey to build a billiondollar business that helps communities thrive. We are thrilled that investors the caliber of IFC, Accion and Quona Capital, Omidyar Network, Lundin Foundation and 4Di Capital buy into and support Zoona’s vision.”
In 2012, Zoona raised USD4m in its first round of capital funding led by the Omidyar Network and Accion.
Zoona Zambia
Founded in 2009, Zoona is a financial service provider that enables domestic money transfers in Zambia and Malawi via a network of agents (over-the-counter).
Zoona’s core business is to build profitable agent outlets for which the company mostly relies on a franchise model, with the goal of promoting digital financial services.
Since launching, it has created over 2,500 jobs in Zambia and Malawi, empowered over 1,000 entrepreneurs to start their own business and allowed them to reach earnings of over USD10m.
So far, Zoona has processed over USD1b in mobile money transactions.
