Kenya’s Fintech Startup Announces Expansion into South Africa

Kenya’s Fintech startup AZA Finance has announced it is expanding into South Africa after raising $20million over the last 18months.

AZA Finance is an established provider of currency trading solutions that is expanding global access to frontier markets through its API and web infrastructure. The startup started with the BitPesa brand until its rebrand in October 2019 when it took on a $15million debt funding from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to build its activities in the region after it had acquired Exchange4free.

The development will make AZA Finance the largest Fintech provider of treasury and FX services and will enable it to more than double transaction volume to $2.5 billion in 2021. The startup will leverage cross-selling opportunities while extending the company’s reach within the continent and globally.

Speaking on the expansion and funding, Elizabeth Rossiello the chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of AZA Finance said that the acquisition moves AZA Finance further towards its goal of opening up intra-African and frontier market FX flows.

“Exchange4Free’s ethos and innovative solution is a great fit for AZA Finance in helping to build the digital infrastructure of the future that brings innovation and efficiency to meet corporate treasury and FX needs in frontier markets.”

“Exchange4Free has built technology to streamline FX and cross-border payment flows across a truly global transaction network,” said Mark Lawson, co-Founder, and CEO at Exchange4Free. “The acquisition by AZA Finance will enable us to reach the scale we need to optimize this technology to deliver highly customizable solutions for our clients,” said Elizabeth.