Zazu fully started as a digital banking space in 2107. Previously, Zazu was a platform where farms could connect with new markets.
What Zazu is about?
Zazu is a digital bank which allows users to manage their money. It is connected to a MasterCard and gives its users power to know where and how their money is goes. Unlike a traditional bank, Zazu uses a customer’s KYC to create their wallet for them. There is no unnecessary need to stand in queues. However, customers can have chat directly with customer service personnel about any questions bugging them concerning Zazu’s services.
What you can do with Zazu?
- With Zazu, users are allowed to keep tracks of their expenses whether it is groceries, food, or TV subscriptions expenses. It is automated to allow users categorize their spending and prioritize according to a pressing need.
- Users can make payments on Zazu with rno hidden charges. You can pay your contacts on the zazu app or make payment both offline and online MasterCards.
- There is an automatic savings; users can save little spare change automatically.
- Customers buy airtime (Mtn, airtel and Zamtel) Or Zesco tokes and DSTV.
The Funding
Before being a full digital bank, ZaZu built a product focused on the Zambian market. A Chabot that uses SMS to teach people how financial services work has been used by over 1.1. million people. While its recent product is a digital wallet app that is connected to a prepaid card to give people more control over their spending.
The startup started a crowdfunding initiative to raise funds. The US$1.4 million in funding, which comes from undisclosed sources, is to be channeled into Zazu’s expansion of its team and better market its product to build its user base.
In a statement by Perseus Mlambo, chief executive officer (CEO) at Zazu, “With 15 people on the team, we have been able to cover a lot of ground. Our products have been used by over a million Zambians and this investment is going to see us welcome our first 100,000 cardholders, as well as increase our team size,”
Zazu, meanwhile, plans to run another crowdfunding campaign in order to help it take its products out of beta.
“Our first crowdfunding campaign allowed us to quickly validate some of our assumptions and meet some incredible investors who have gone on to become advisors at Zazu,” Mlambo said. “Now that we have a working product and the licence to operate the business, we are really looking forward to, in a sense, rewarding those investors for their belief in us back then, and growing our investor base.”
Mlambo did not provide a date as to when the latest crowdfunding campaign would begin, and said at this point the startup could not disclose who was behind the US$1.4 million already raised.
“Since putting our app in beta, we haven’t disclosed user numbers because we have been focusing on getting user feedback and acting on that. Putting our app in beta saw us get inbound requests from a few investors and to not jeopardise some of the discussions we are having for a larger round next year, we aren’t disclosing source of funds at this time,” he said.
