What Bizao does

Bizao is a B2B fintech company founded in 2019 and headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, that builds interoperable payment infrastructure for businesses operating across African markets. The company's core product is a payment processing platform that supports multiple countries and payment methods, designed to address the fragmented African payments landscape by providing merchants and businesses with a single integration point to accept digital payments across approximately 10 African countries. The platform handles over 300 million payment requests monthly and grew transaction volumes nearly 20x year-over-year as of mid-2022.

The company operates with 51–100 employees and earns revenue primarily through transaction fees on payment processing. Its go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting African businesses and merchants that need to process digital payments cross-border and across multiple local payment methods. Bizao closed an €8 million (~$8.1 million) Series A in July 2022 led by Adelie, AfricInvest, and Seedstars Africa Ventures, with stated use of funds for geographic expansion, new product development, and customer acquisition. In May 2024 the company joined the Visa Accelerator program, signaling continued strategic engagement with global payment-rail partners.

Ownership is venture-backed with no disclosed parent company, public listing, or detailed cap table. No AI/ML capabilities, named customer logos, regulatory licenses, or detailed pricing are disclosed in the available data, limiting visibility into certain dimensions of the business.

Name

Bizao

Legal name

Bizao

Website

https://bizao.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Processing Infrastructure

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Payment Orchestration Platforms (FSAGABAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Merchant Cross-Border Collections (Pay-ins) & Local Payment Methods (FSAGAKAD), Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) & Local Rails (ACH/SEPA/UPI, etc.) (CRAFALAG)

Keywords

• Digital payments
• Payment infrastructure
• African fintech
• Payment processing
• Cross-border payments

Headquarters

HQ city

Abidjan

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Payment Processing Services: Bizao processes payment requests for businesses across Africa. The company facilitates payment transactions and earns revenue from transaction processing fees. The platform handles over 300 million payment requests monthly.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Core offering

Bizao operates a unified digital payment processing platform across more than 10 African countries, enabling businesses and merchants to accept and process digital transactions. The infrastructure handles over 300 million payment requests monthly and supports multiple payment methods, addressing fragmented African payment ecosystems through a single interoperable integration.

Product overview

Bizao is a fintech company operating a unified payment platform across over 10 African countries. The company facilitates payment processing, having handled over 300 million payment requests monthly with transaction volumes that grew nearly 20 times over the past year prior to its Series A funding in 2022. The platform serves businesses seeking to process payments across the African continent.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bizao Unified Payment Platform A digital payment processing platform serving businesses and merchants across more than 10 African countries. The platform enables clients to accept and process digital transactions through a single integration supporting multiple African payment methods, handling over 300 million payment requests monthly.

Quantifiable outcome

• 300 million+ payment requests processed monthly
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Flutterwave: Pan-African B2B payment processor enabling merchants to accept and disburse payments across multiple African countries. Directly competes with Bizao on multi-country payment infrastructure, APIs, and transaction processing for African merchants.
• Paystack: Africa-focused payment gateway (acquired by Stripe) enabling businesses to accept payments online and via mobile. Comparable to Bizao in providing payment infrastructure to African merchants, though historically more single-market focused.
• Onafriq (formerly MFS Africa): Pan-African digital payments network connecting mobile wallets, banks, and money operators across 40+ African countries. Highly comparable to Bizao as cross-border payment infrastructure for emerging markets.
• Cellulant: African digital payments platform providing payment aggregation across multiple countries, including the Tingg product for merchants. Directly comparable in offering interoperable payment infrastructure for African businesses.
• Chipper Cash: Cross-border payments platform for African consumers and businesses enabling money transfers and merchant payments. Comparable in targeting cross-border African payment flows and emerging-market digital payment infrastructure.
• TerraPay: Global cross-border payments infrastructure connecting bank accounts, mobile wallets, and cards across emerging markets. Directly comparable to Bizao in providing interoperable payment infrastructure for cross-border emerging-market transactions.

Broad incumbents

• Interswitch: Largest African payment processor with broad switching, card issuing, and digital infrastructure across the continent. Comparable to Bizao in payment processing but operates at much larger scale with a wider product portfolio.
• DPO Group (Network International): Pan-African payment service provider offering merchant acquiring, payment processing, and online payment gateways across multiple African markets. Competes with Bizao in multi-country merchant payment processing.

Regional players

• Paga: Nigerian mobile payment platform serving consumers and merchants across Africa with payment processing and financial services. Comparable in African merchant payment infrastructure though with stronger single-country roots.

Emerging players

• Wave: Mobile money operator enabling digital payments across Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gambia, and Uganda. Adjacent comparable in African digital payment adoption with growing merchant payment capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BizaoOfficial
• Facebookfacebook.com/Bizaoofficiel
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bizao

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bizao