African-focused fintech, Zazuu shuts down

Zazuu, a U.K.-based and Africa-focused fintech startup has shuttered due to its inability to raise additional funding. "We failed to secure a growth funding round. We explored every option before taking this difficult decision," the company said in a statement. 

Recall that last year, Zazuu raised $2 million to deepen its cross-border payment offering and also build what it described as the world's first non-biased payment platform.

The fundraising round saw participation from Launch Africa, Founders Factory Africa, Hoaq Club, and other investors including CEO of Kuda, Babs Ogundeyi. 

Since its launch in 2018, Zazuu has evolved from a simple chatbot informing users of the daily rates in Facebook and Telegram groups, to an FCA-licensed organisation in the UK with users in eight countries across North America and Europe. Nearly a hundred thousand users have used the current iteration of its Search and Compare service to find the best rates for their corridors.

When it raised funding last year, the fintech said that it will continue to grow its user base, hire more talent and scale its Pay with Zazuu feature that allows users to complete transactions in-app; at the time, the service was only available to senders in the U.K. and receivers in Nigeria and Ghana. Zazuu had plans to expand into other markets but this stalled, then came the closure. 

"Sure, it stings. But we are walking away with our heads high, proud of what we have built and the lesson learned," that company added.