Abu Dhabi Payments Firm enza Raises $6 Million to Expand Across Africa

British International Investment (BII), the UK's development finance institution, joined as a new investor. Quona Capital and Algebra Ventures, which co-led enza's $6.75 million seed round in March 2025, both increased their positions.

The round is small, but it lands at a difficult moment for startup fundraising in the region: total startup funding across the Middle East and North Africa fell to $40 million in October, according to figures published earlier on Monday. That existing backers chose to put in more money, and that a development finance institution completed its own investment and ESG checks, gives the two-year-old company a measure of outside validation that many peers are struggling to secure.

Founded in 2023 by Hany Fekry and Hamish Houston, enza has regional offices in Egypt, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria and says it serves bank and fintech clients in 12 African countries. Its platform lets financial institutions offer digital payment services through a single integration, covering payment acceptance, transaction processing and fraud detection, while the banks keep control of their merchant relationships and data.

The company pitches itself as an alternative to the legacy processors that many African banks have relied on. In its announcement it argued that choosing a payments partner is one of the biggest decisions a bank makes, because switching is costly and regulators scrutinise outsourcing.

enza said the new money will fund expansion into more African markets, particularly those where digitising payments is a national priority, along with the regulatory licences it needs to serve banks there and further development of its product line. It did not say which countries it is targeting or disclose its valuation.

"Our existing investors have seen us deliver, and they have put more capital behind us to accelerate our growth," Fekry, the group's chief executive, said.

Daniel Marlo, managing partner at 4DX Ventures, said payments in Africa had become omni-channel but the infrastructure banks depend on had not kept pace. He pointed to the founders' track record: according to Marlo, they helped build one of the continent's leading payment processors, serving banks in more than 40 African markets, and later ran processing and regional operations for a large payments company that acquired that business.

Chirantan Patnaik, head of disruptive ventures at BII, said the investment reflects the institution's focus on inclusive finance and on supporting small businesses by tackling the high cost and complexity of digital payments infrastructure.

The company's next milestones are the licences in new markets, which will determine how quickly it can move beyond its current 12-country footprint.