Waza announced $8 million in combined funding on August 19, 2024: $3 million in seed equity and $5 million in debt from Timon Capital. The company said the capital would support expansion beyond its then-current Ghana and Nigeria operations and fund a trade-finance pilot for large enterprise customers. The announcement was a dated company milestone, not confirmation of Waza’s current services or performance.
What Waza announced
Waza described itself as a business-to-business payments and liquidity platform serving emerging-market companies that need to pay suppliers across borders. Its focus was helping businesses manage foreign-exchange liquidity and settle international supplier payments. The company announced that it had begun operations in January 2023 after joining Y Combinator’s Winter 2023 batch. Waza’s August 19, 2024 announcement identified Ghana and Nigeria as its active markets at that time.
The funding had two distinct parts:
| Funding | Amount | Announced purpose or participants |
|---|---|---|
| Seed equity | $3 million | Included Y Combinator, Byld Ventures, Norrsken Africa, Heirloom VC, Plug and Play Tech Center, Olive Tree Capital, and other investors. |
| Debt | $5 million | Provided by Timon Capital; Waza said it would use the debt to pilot trade financing for large enterprise clients. |
Waza said the new capital would also support expansion and further trade-finance solutions. The debt-backed pilot was a planned initiative in the announcement; it does not establish that the product later launched or is currently available.
How Waza was meant to help businesses pay global suppliers
Cross-border trade payments are sensitive to both settlement speed and exchange rates: a business needs to pay a supplier reliably, while the amount paid in local currency can affect its costs. Waza co-founder and CEO Maxwell Obi described the company’s proposition to TechCrunch in August 2024 as affordability and faster settlement for businesses paying suppliers.
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TechCrunch’s report described three customer groups Waza served or targeted:
- Multinational companies operating locally in Africa.
- Importers and traders paying suppliers overseas.
- Fintech companies and developers that need payment APIs.
That mix points to a business payments platform rather than a consumer remittance service. The funding announcement does not provide a current fee schedule, a guaranteed settlement time, or a present-day list of supported countries.
What Waza reported about its business in 2024
In its August 2024 announcement, Waza reported serving hundreds of businesses, processing more than $700 million in annualized payment volume, facilitating payments across six continents, and growing 20% month over month. It also said it reached profitability in the fourth quarter of 2023 and remained profitable through 2024. These are historical company-reported figures, not audited results established by the cited reporting.
TechCrunch reported that Obi said monthly payment volume was $70 million in May 2024, which he presented as equivalent to $700 million annualized. The same interview attributed a 0.75%–1% take rate and revenue from FX spread to Obi. Those figures describe the company’s account at the time; they should not be read as current operating metrics or pricing.
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Waza also characterized its opportunity as a $7 trillion market with a $280 billion revenue opportunity. Those were company estimates in 2024, not independently validated market measurements. Waza published the estimates in its announcement.
What changed after the funding announcement: Lync
On January 20, 2025, Waza announced Lync, a multi-currency account platform for businesses incorporated in the United States, United Kingdom, or European Union that serve emerging markets. The launch post said Lync supported USD, EUR, GBP, and NGN accounts, as well as stablecoin accounts, and payments to more than 100 countries. Waza also listed ACH, Fedwire, SWIFT, and UK Faster Payments among the available rails, and named Visa and CurrencyCloud as institutional partners. These are claims made at launch, not verified current product terms. Waza’s Lync launch announcement contains the company’s description.
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The launch announcement also said funds were FDIC-insured. That statement alone does not explain which institution held deposits, which account types qualified, or what coverage conditions applied. Businesses considering the service should confirm the current eligibility rules, country coverage, payment rails, deposit-protection structure, fees, and partner arrangements directly with Waza.
Y Combinator’s company directory profile, accessed October 8, 2026, lists Waza as active and describes it as a B2B platform for global payments and emerging-market trade. A directory listing does not verify present-day product access, regulatory permissions, or financial performance.
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What the $8 million does—and does not—tell customers
The announcement explains Waza’s financing structure and intended strategy: equity for company growth, plus debt intended to support a large-enterprise trade-finance pilot. It does not, by itself, establish that a business can sign up today, that Lync’s launch features remain available, or that coverage and terms are unchanged. Because current service availability, licensing by geography, fees, and operating metrics are not established by these dated announcements, businesses should verify those details before relying on Waza for a payment or treasury workflow.
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