GOODsoil VC, an Africa-focused early-stage venture capital firm headed by a diverse team of entrepreneurial investors, fulfils its mission to drive financial inclusion across the continent by injecting US$940,000 seed capital into Ghana’s fintech company Zeepay
Founded in 2017 by Charmaine Hayden, Orla Enright, Ashley Thompson-MacCarthy and Richard Mensah, GOODsoil comprises 50% female and 75% black partners, all young serial entrepreneurs eager to become economic growth catalysts for minority founders across Africa.
“There are clear barriers to entry for tech startups to scale, and our vision is to level the playing field. We go by the dictum that talent is evenly distributed; opportunities are not,” explained Charmaine Hayden. The company is the perfect fit for entrepreneurs, markets and industries that may typically be overlooked by other VC firms, added Orla Enright.
Zeepay focuses on digital rails to connect digital assets. The company has a footprint on more than 20 African markets. In April 2020, the company became the first indigenous company to be granted an Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) license to operate as a mobile financial services company under the banking and financial services regulator of the Bank of Ghana.
GOODsoil’s investment will enable Zeepay to continue to expand and roll out its services across the continent and expand its global reach by launching in the UK in 2021.
“We are delighted to have GOODsoil on board,” said Zeepay co-founder and managing director Andrew Takyi-Appiah. “We believe with their strong brokerage background, with leading Ghanaian brokerage firm Obsidian Achernar in their portfolio, we will be able to attract good pricing on Foreign Exchange for our wholesale clients.”
