GOODsoil VC, an Africa-focused early-stage venture capital firm is set to inject of US$940 000 seed capital
Into Ghana’s fastest-growing fintech start-up Zeepay.
Zeepay has a presence in more than 20 African markets and focuses on digital rails to connect digital assets.
GOODsoil VC, an Africa-focused early-stage venture capital firm is set to inject of US$940 000 seed capital
Into Ghana’s fastest-growing fintech start-up Zeepay.
GOODsoil was founded in 2017 by Charmaine Hayden, Orla Enright, Ashley Thompson-MacCarthy and Richard Mensah, and comprises of 50% female and 75% black partners. These young, serial entrepreneurs are committed to becoming catalysts of economic growth across Africa. Charmaine Hayden explained that the objective of the company is to offer a level playing field for tech start-ups and it acts as the perfect fit for entrepreneurs, markets and industries that may be overlooked by other VC firms.
Zeepay has a presence in more than 20 African markets and focuses on digital rails to connect digital assets. In April 2020, it became the first indigenous company to be awarded the Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) license to operate as a mobile financial services company by the Bank of Ghana. The investment by GOODsoil will enable Zeepay to scale up its services across the continent and extend its global reach by launching in the UK in 2021.
Zeepay co-founder and managing director Andrew Takyi-Appiah said that Zeepay hoped to benefit from GOODsoil’s strong brokerage background, to attract good pricing on Foreign Exchange for their wholesale clients.
Experts point out that GOODsoil’s partnership with Zeepay proves that investors can see significant returns in African start-ups. For the first time, a Ghanaian investor exited a local start-up with significant gains.
The deal gave the initial two shareholders of Zeepay, USD940,000 in 2020 for their initial investment of USD24,000 in 2015. London based GOODsoil VC aims to fund 50+ start-ups in the next 5 years, building long-term relationships with investors who are keen on tech innovation, early-stage companies and investment in Africa.
