The investment was led by Grazia Equity and BACKED VC, with participation from Enza Capital, Launch Africa, Renew Capital, Finca International, Attijariwafa Ventures, Impact Assets, and several angel investors.

The funding comes less than a year after Affinity Africa officially launched its operations in October 2024. Since then, the platform has onboarded over 50,000 customers in Ghana, 65% of whom were previously unbanked. 

Women in the informal sector make up 60% of its customer base, asserting the company’s impact on financial inclusion.

With a model that eliminates monthly fees and transaction charges, Affinity Africa offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional banks, whose high fees and cumbersome processes have kept millions of Africans outside the financial system. 

The company provides a full suite of digital banking services, including personal and SME accounts, savings, payments, transfers, investments, and loans, all accessible through a mobile app and agent network.

Tarek Mouganie, founder and Group CEO of Affinity Africa, stated that the company’s strong, sustained growth seen since the launch of its mobile app shows how much local customers needed a better banking experience, without absurd fees and endless queues.

“This oversubscribed funding round is a testament to the belief in our vision and the opportunity to create real and lasting change, starting in Ghana.”

The African banking sector is highly profitable, with Ghanaian banks reporting a 24% year-on-year growth since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, traditional banking services remain out of reach for many due to high costs, extensive paperwork, and lengthy onboarding processes. Affinity Africa aims to bridge this gap by offering a more accessible and affordable alternative.

BACKED VC’s founder and managing partner, Andre de Haes, commended Affinity’s leadership, stating: “At BACKED, we are founder first, and we could not think of a better person to build Africa’s local bank than Tarek. He has a unique ability to connect with and understand customers, which has materialised into extremely impressive early user numbers.”

The funding will enable Affinity Africa to strengthen its foothold in Ghana before expanding into other African markets. The company plans to scale its operations, enhance its technology infrastructure, and reach more unbanked populations across the continent.

Mike Mompi, managing partner at Enza Capital, affirmed the significance of Affinity’s model: “Rather than replicating fintech models from the global north, they have crafted an innovative approach tailored to local needs and grounded in strong fundamentals. Their mixed model of agent network and mobile app, coupled with exceptional execution, is already delivering meaningful growth and measurable impact.”

Affinity Africa’s success so far is ensuring responsible banking in Africa, proving that a sustainable, technology-driven financial institution can drive apt financial inclusion while maintaining strong governance.

Founded in 2019, Enza Capital initially launched an early-stage fund aimed at identifying and supporting startups in the pre-seed and seed stages. This fund remains active and has made investments in various sectors, including fintech, logistics, health, human capital, and climate tech.

Despite its early-stage focus, Enza Capital has evolved into a multi-stage investor, with a significant emphasis on follow-on investments, particularly up to Series B. The company’s mission is to back visionary founders and teams leveraging technology to address significant challenges across Africa, particularly those related to digitization and technology-driven solutions.

Enza Capital is headquartered in Nairobi, with a remote team spread across different locations, including Johannesburg, London, and New York. The firm is set to expand its presence in Lagos and a Francophone African city to better support its portfolio companies in these regions. To facilitate this expansion, Enza Capital plans to hire additional talent across various departments.

In a unique and altruistic move, Enza Capital is launching its founder partner program, allowing founders and leadership teams of portfolio companies to become co-owners of the firm. This program aims to foster trust and long-term partnerships beyond traditional venture capital structures. Enza Capital is committing 10% of its carry pool back to the founders as a gesture of shared success and commitment.

The firm has identified key verticals in Africa where significant problems can be solved through technology, and it remains dedicated to driving innovation and transformation in these sectors. Enza Capital’s investments range from pre-seed to Series B, with an evergreen investment vehicle called Enza Growth Capital capable of investing up to $20 million per company over longer holding periods.

Enza Capital’s investment strategy involves leading or co-leading investment rounds and collaborating with other high-quality investors aligned with the company’s vision and values. The firm focuses on factors such as team quality, market opportunity, problem relevance, technology, and transaction specifics when making investment decisions.

Some of Enza Capital’s portfolio companies include SeamlessHR, Autochek, and Jumba. The limited partners contributing to both funds encompass a diverse group of investors, including private individuals, family offices, foundations, fund of funds, hedge funds, and venture capital firms.

The successful closure of these funds positions Enza Capital to continue its mission of supporting African technology companies as they digitize key industries, transform offline to online, and drive innovation in various sectors across the continent.

The round was led by Lofty Inc Capital, and had participation from Techstars – Boulder, Magic Fund, Hustle Fund, Norrsken Foundation, Microtraction, DFS Labs, Oxford Seed Fund, Enza Capital, Agrolay Advisors, Ire Aderinokun, Jesse Ovia, Ademola Adesina, and other angel investors.

Founded by Guy Futi (CEO), Adinlewa “Fikayo” Akinwale (CTO), Mark Edomwande, Kunle Ogungbamila, and Namir El-Khouri, Orda.Africa is a cloud-based restaurant operating system built for African chefs and food business owners.

Orda’s ePos, integrations, and lending solutions enable Africa’s millions of food business owners to grow and scale their businesses. With Orda, restaurants can manage end-to-end operations from one place.

Orda has developed a full-stack approach to integrating local payments, logistic companies while building inventory management, and business analytics for small to medium-sized food businesses. It says it is the only technology solution on the continent that allows restaurants to accept and process all their in-store, website, social media, Whatsapp, Jumia Food, Glovo, Bolt Food orders from one easy-to-use interface.

Speaking on the inspiration behind the technology, Guy Futi, CEO of Orda said “We kept trying to address the very real pain points of chefs, caterers and small restaurants and from that Orda grew. Before Orda, a small food business owner could spend up to 4 hours a day  reconciling transactions while trying to figure out losses. We looked to alleviate that burden. In the process we noticed that food business owners were not fully integrated with local payment solutions, online sales channels, and logistic providers. This made their operations even more difficult.”

Although a relatively new technology subsector, cloud-based points of sales have been rising in popularity in recent years.

A 2021 report put the global market size at $72.8 billion is expected to reach USD 116.27 billion by 2026. In the US, market leaders, Toast —which Orda is modeled after, announced revenues of $486.4 million in Q3 2021.

In Africa, Orda is believed to be among the first bottom-up software providers for restaurants. Built by an African team, the startup’s cloud-based solution factors peculiarities unique to the market. For instance, their ePos has the ability to operate in remote areas with little to no internet coverage.

“Orda was built from a near 18 months of a collaborative customer feedback loop. We listened to everything, from how African restaurants reconcile inventory, how customers pay, to how they handle logistics and more. We can confidently say that no one has done as much work as we have to build an end-to-end solution for our food business owners. We are excited to usher in much needed digitization to the sector”, says Fikayo Akinwale, the CTO.

The startup’s cloud-based solution is currently available for restaurants in Nigeria and Kenya. Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) has been growing at more than 15% week over week as Orda now processes thousands of weekly transactions.

Speaking on the raise, Idris Ayodeji Bello, managing partner of LoftyInc Capital said, “We loved investing in Orda because it is building the core digital infrastructure for restaurants across Africa. The team has done the hard work of figuring out the core problems that African restaurant owners are facing and is building a solution that can revolutionise the food business across the continent. LoftyInc is excited to back a solution-focused team like Orda.”

Following the raise, the startup is looking to increase its rate of growth and expansion across the continent.