Nigerian fintech startup Hizo has secured $100,000 in seed funding from a Friends and Family round led by a prominent local angel investor. The round, which officially closed on June 4, 2025, marks a pivotal step in Hizo’s mission to simplify intra-African money transfers, enabling users to send, receive, and spend local currencies seamlessly across borders.
A Pan-African Payment Vision
While most remittance platforms focus on funds flowing into Africa from Western countries, Hizo is solving for the often-ignored intra-African financial ecosystem.
“Cross-border transactions within Africa are typically routed through foreign currencies like the U.S. dollar,” explained Victor Chiedu, CEO of Hizo. “This drives up cost and complexity. We’re building a platform by Africans, for Africans—a system that supports local currencies across borders without foreign intermediaries.”
Currently in its pilot phase in Nigeria, Hizo’s platform supports transfers and payments in naira across more than 14 African countries, empowering individuals and small businesses to operate more efficiently in a borderless economic space.
Funding to Accelerate Expansion and Innovation
The $100K raised will be channeled into key growth areas:
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Product Innovation: Bolstering the platform’s technical infrastructure and introducing intuitive features to improve user experience.
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Market Expansion: Scaling operations and customer acquisition through strategic marketing and community engagement.
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Team Development: Enhancing staff capacity through targeted training to support operational scaling and foster innovation.
The decision to pursue a Friends and Family funding round reflects Hizo’s community-centered ethos. “We chose backers who deeply understand our mission and want to be part of a lasting change,” Chiedu noted. “It’s more than fundraising—it’s about building a value-driven community.”
Toward a Borderless African Economy
With the seed round complete, Hizo is now positioning itself to attract institutional investors and strategic partners. The startup plans to deepen collaborations with regional financial institutions and mobile money operators, while expanding support for additional African currencies.
Chiedu highlighted the company’s long-term vision:
“We see a future where an entrepreneur in Nairobi can transact with a supplier in Lagos using their respective local currencies—without delays, conversions, or hidden costs. That’s real financial independence.”
As Hizo works to dismantle barriers to commerce and trade across Africa, its platform is emerging as a vital infrastructure for a digitally connected and economically empowered continent.
