Press release:
enza, the payments infrastructure provider to banks and fintechs across Africa, has closed a US$6 million Seed+ round led by 4DX Ventures. British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution, joins as a new investor. Quona Capital and Algebra Ventures, who co-led enza’s seed round in 2025, have both added to their positions.
The round is a vote of confidence from the people who know enza best. Its existing investors have watched the business up close since the seed and chose to invest more capital. BII joins after completing its own investment and ESG due diligence.
Why it matters to African stakeholders
One of the biggest decisions a bank can make is the choice of payments infrastructure partner. This decision shapes the propositions the bank can take to market, how it differentiates its services, and which markets it can serve profitably. Switching is costly and regulators scrutinise outsourcing, so the choice has a long tail. Until recently, banks had limited options and were largely tied to legacy providers. Now a new generation of payments infrastructure providers has emerged, built on modern architectures that bring speed, lower operating costs and faster time to market. enza is leading the way on the African continent and now serves bank and fintech clients across 12 countries.
The new capital goes into the areas that clients rely on most. enza will extend into new markets, particularly those where the digitisation of payments is both a major opportunity and a national priority, and secure the additional licences needed to serve more banks and fintechs there. Clients get locally relevant payment infrastructure, delivered in line with each market’s regulatory requirements, on leading technology built for scale. The funding also supports continued investment in expanding the enza product line and the value these services unlock for enza clients.
Hany Fekry, Group Chief Executive Officer at enza“
Since our launch, we have been building the payments infrastructure partner African banks and fintechs have been missing. Our existing investors have seen us deliver, and they have put more capital behind us to accelerate our growth,” said Hany Fekry, Group CEO of enza. “To have leading fintech investors and a development finance institution of BII’s standing back that, after looking hard at what we do, is a powerful endorsement. For our clients, it means a partner with the resources and stability to keep investing in their payment capabilities. It also reaffirms our commitment to the transformation of the continent, one payment at a time.“
Daniel Marlo, Managing Partner at 4DX Ventures“
Payments in Africa have moved well beyond cards and are truly omni-channel today, yet the infrastructure on which banks depend has not kept pace,” said Daniel Marlo, Managing Partner at 4DX Ventures. “enza enables banks to modernise via a single integration to enza’s platform while allowing banks to retain control of their merchants and their data. 4DX led this round because we see that enza addresses a key gap in the ecosystem and the founders have done this before. They helped build one of the continent’s leading payment processors, serving banks across more than 40 African markets, and subsequently led processing and regional operations for one of the region’s largest payments companies following its acquisition of their business. That record has earned them the trust of banks, schemes and regulators across Africa, which is ultimately what determines success in this industry. We believe enza can become the backbone of how money moves across the continent, connecting every bank, merchant and consumer on a single modern network, and we are proud to partner with the team to build it.”
Chirantan Patnaik, Head of Disruptive Ventures at BII
“enza provides banks and financial institutions with the modern payments infrastructure that they need to reduce costs, broaden payment options, and expand access to affordable and reliable financial services across developing markets.” said Chirantan Patnaik, Head of Disruptive Ventures at BII. “Our investment in enza reflects our focus on inclusive finance and supporting SMEs by tackling a major barrier: the high cost and complexity of digital payments infrastructure.”