Ghana’s Zeepay raises $940 000 in seed capital led by GOODsoil VC

By Pavithra R

ZEEPAY, a wholly Ghanaian owned mobile financial services company focused on providing integrated mobile payments services with mobile wallets has announced the raising of US$940 000 seed capital from GOODsoil VC, an Africa-focused early-stage venture capital firm.

Founded in 2017 by Charmaine Hayden, Orla Enright, Ashley Thompson-MacCarthy and Richard Mensah, GOODsoil comprises 50% female and 75% black partners, all young, serial entrepreneurs intent on becoming catalysts of economic growth for minority founders across Africa. The VC aims to drive financial inclusion across the continent, and the funding is part of its commitment. 

“There are clear barriers to entry for tech startups to scale, and our vision is to level the playing field. We go by the dictum that talent is evenly distributed; opportunities are not,” said Charmaine Hayden. 

ZEEPAY is a FinTech company targeting the unbanked and banked population with the objective of bringing the unbanked into the financial stream and easing payments and collections for the banked population. The firm focuses on digital rails to connect digital assets. It has footprint in more than 20 African markets and, in April 2020, became the first indigenous company being awarded the Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) license to operate as a mobile financial services company by the Bank of Ghana, the regulator of banking and financial services.

ZEEPAY is planning to use the finance to continue to scale and roll out its services across the continent and extend its global reach by launching in the UK in 2021.

“We are delighted to have GOODsoil on board. We believe with their strong brokerage background, with leading Ghanaian brokerage firm Obsidian Achernar in their portfolio, we will be able to attract good pricing on Foreign Exchange for our wholesale clients,” said Zeepay co-founder and managing director Andrew Takyi-Appiah.