Nigerian Web3 Neobank, Canza Finance, which facilitates cross-border payments for African startups, has successfully raised $2.3 million in a funding round aimed at expanding its African DeFi Platform for Foreign Exchange, Baki.
Polychain led the funding round, with participation from notable investors including Protocol Labs, AvaLabs, 99 Capital, Bitscale Capital, Stratified Cap, Contango Capital, Kairon Labs, Hypericum, StatelessVC, Mapleblock, ytwovc, and HASHCIB.
Canza Finance plans to use the funds to develop innovative tools and services, with a focus on reducing business expenses throughout the African continent. The startup also intends to obtain licenses from various African financial regulators and lay the foundation for its decentralized finance (DeFi) platform for foreign exchange, Baki.
Utilizing stablecoins pegged to the dollar, Canza’s Baki enables businesses to swap currencies without incurring significant forex fees. By leveraging stablecoins and DeFi tools, Canza aims to provide businesses with dollar stability and overcome traditional forex challenges, ultimately reducing transaction costs to just 1%.
Pascal Ntsama, Co-founder and CEO of Canza Finance, expressed the company’s goals, stating, “We aim to secure a Money Services Business (MSB) license in the United States, obtain a Foreign Exchange (FX) license in Nigeria, and acquire three crucial Virtual Asset Licenses from the Financial Service Commission of Mauritius.”
Founded in 2020 by Telecom experts Pascal Ntsama and Oyedeji Oluwoye, Canza Finance addresses the financial needs of SMEs seeking foreign currency for transaction settlements and cross-border business. After concluding a previous seed round of $3.27 million in 2022, the startup has now accumulated a total of $5.5 million in funding.
Canza collaborates with foreign exchange (FX) agents in African countries facing slow and costly cross-border payments, offering a faster and more cost-effective method for businesses to send and receive money. The startup generates revenue by charging a 1% fee on processed transactions, with plans to reduce transaction fees to 0.2% with the introduction of Baku.
Canza Finance aims to build the world’s largest non-institutional-based financial system, utilizing Web 3.0 and decentralized finance (DeFi), along with a network of experienced local money market players. The startup’s suite of products includes seamless crypto on/off-ramp services, staking, P2P, and cross-border settlements, contributing to the development of an innovative and fully decentralized financial system.
Source: Tekedia