Speedinvest& Africinvest, through its Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, have participated in the funding of Oze an AI-Powered digital lender for financial institutions and SMEs. With this funding, Oze intends to scale its proprietary Lending Management System, or LMS, a machine-learning algorithm for credit risk, to banks, microfinance institutes, and fintechs, to offer unsecured digital loans with no collateral to merchants and small business.
This funding will accelerate our mission of empowering small businesses in Africa. By scaling our Lending Management System we can help more financial institutes unlock the potential of SMEs, and drive financial inclusion on an unprecedented scale,” Meghan McCormick said, Oze’s co-founder and CEO.
Oze is a Visa Accelerator Program cohort company that provides banks and lenders tools to automate digital loans, while MSMEs can benefit from an easy-to-use software for business management to track sales, expenses and customer information. Oze analyzes the data to provide actionable recommendations, access to capital, and business education.
Oze is working with commercial banks like Ecobank in Ghana and Nigeria, as well as Guinea, Benin and Rwanda. They plan to expand to other countries on the continent.
Visa’s mission to foster innovation and financial inclusion in Africa and Oze’s vision perfectly aligns with it. Fabrice Konan is Visa Ghana’s Country Manager. “Their approach to enabling the digital lending of small businesses that are underserved is transformative. We are excited to partner them to drive this transformation,” he said. DEG’s investment is made through its Up Scaling Programmewhich targets high impact, innovative business models for developing and emerging markets.
“Oze’s Technology has the potential unlock financial opportunities for millions small businesses in Africa. This will create sustainable development and foster inclusive growth. We are proud to be supporting their expansion.” Dr. Tobias Bidlingmaier said, Head of Up-Scaling for DEG.
Oze has also been selected as one of three finalists for the Milken Motsepe Prize
Oze’s innovative approach to expanding small business access to capital and financial service in emerging and frontier market was recently recognized. Oze was one of three companies that were still in the running to win a $1M prize at the Milken Institute Middle East & Africa Summit. The competition included more than 5,000 applicants and a semi finalist pitch.
By 2022, Oze had raised $3 million through a pre-Series-A round led by major venture firm Speedinvest. The round was oversubscribed by Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund and Savannah Fund as well as several Angels who have experience managing and investing global fintech.
