The Y Combinator-backed B2B payment and liquidity provider for emerging market businesses, Waza raises $8 million to expand and launch new trade finance solutions.
The funding consists of a $3 million seed equity round from investors such as Y Combinator, Byld Ventures, Norrsken Africa, Heirloom VC, Plug and Play Tech Center, and Olive Tree Capital, along with $5 million in debt funding from Timon Capital to pilot trade financing for large enterprise clients.
Maxwell Obi, CEO and co-founder of Waza, expressed that this development brings the startup closer to transforming B2B payments and access to liquidity for businesses across the continent.
“By providing a more efficient settlement infrastructure, we are bridging the foreign exchange and liquidity gap and empowering African businesses to access more global trade opportunities that will drive economic growth and development in the markets we serve,” he added.
This development is on the heels of increasing demand for cross-border payments amid a rise in remittance flows and global trade. A forecast by the Bank of England shows that the cross-border payments market is expected to rise to over $250 trillion by 2027, globally.
Founders of Waza
Founded by Maxwell Obi, a two-time founder, and Emmanuel Igbodudu, a senior software engineer. Waza is a money services business-registered entity in the United States and a virtual asset service provider-licensed company that has built a B2B payment and liquidity platform that makes it easy for emerging market businesses to pay their suppliers globally.
The startup began operations in stealth mode in January 2023 after joining Y Combinator’s Winter 23 batch. Since then, it says it has served hundreds of businesses, processing over $700 million in annualized payment volume. And facilitating business payments across six continents, with a 20% monthly growth rate.
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Per the company, it reached profitability in the fourth quarter of 2023 and has successfully maintained it into 2024. In January 2023, it secured $1.2 million in pre-seed funding to develop payment infrastructure for emerging markets.
