Zone, a blockchain fintech company based in Nigeria, has secured $8.5 million in a seed round headed by TLcom Capital and Flourish Ventures to increase its market presence.
The startup’s CEO, Obi Emetarom, disclosed the raiser in a statement seen by News.ng
Zone describes itself as a controlled blockchain network that allows for the acceptance and payment of virtual currencies and was established in 2022.
Before its official launch, the Lekki-based startup was granted a switching licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which is the nation’s top bank. This allowed it to access Nigeria’s central switch, also known as the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, which facilitates quick transfers of funds between bank accounts and interoperability amongst different participants in the financial system.
As onboarding procedures can take up to six months due to internal procedures including setting up staging environments, testing, and securing management permissions, the chief executive claims that eight institutions are at different levels of implementation.
“We’re launching and rolling out some new use cases this year. The ATM use case didn’t incorporate fintechs because they don’t deploy ATMs,” said Emetarom. “But with the POS, that brings a use case fintechs are very familiar with – and for that, we are also integrating some of the big fintechs in the country.”
According to Emetarom, more than fifteen of the biggest banks on the continent have already joined Zone, Africa’s first regulated blockchain payment network.
One of the many payment methods used to initiate transactions in Nigeria is the ATM, which is presently processing domestic transactions for seven of these banks. Other payment methods include fund transfers, direct debit, POS, and the Internet.
