On Monday, Enza, a fintech startup founded by former Network International executives Hany Fekry and Hamish Houston, announced that it had secured $6 million in seed funding. This investment, led by Algebra Ventures and Quona Capital, aims to enhance the payment infrastructure for banks and fintechs across Africa, particularly in Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa—three of the continent’s largest financial markets.
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Enza’s platform simplifies payments for banks and fintechs
Enza’s platform is designed to briìidge the gap between banks and fintechs by providing a comprehensive payment solution that supports both the issuing and acceptance sides of transactions.
Unlike traditional processors focusing primarily on merchant acquiring, Enza enables banks to offer various local payment solutions, including cards, real-time payments, and mobile money services. This approach allows banks to regain their competitive edge in the financial sector, which fintech startups like Flutterwave and Moniepoint have dominated mainly.
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“Payments are the gateway,” said Andrew Key, an executive director at Enza. “But the value is in the data and the services you can layer on top.” This strategy focuses on enabling small businesses to accept payments at minimal costs, allowing banks to build long-term relationships and cross-sell additional financial services such as lending, savings, and insurance.
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Enza expands payment options and transparency
Enza integrates with local and global payment networks, including Verve, AfriGo, Meeza, Visa, and Mastercard, as well as real-time payment systems like NIBSS, PayShap, and InstaPay. This integration provides banks with broader payment options and enhances their oversight of the payment ecosystem, ensuring compliance while scaling operations.
“Banks have realised they gave up too much ground to fintechs,” noted Hamish Houston, co-founder of Enza. “We want to give them the tech to compete and win it back.” Despite launching operations just last year, Enza has already secured over 10 million monthly transactions across six African markets, with transaction volumes growing from 35 to 40 per cent per month.