V8 Capital Partners’ Blockchain Company, Zone is Disrupting Payments in Africa

Africa has long been plagued by challenges in its traditional banking systems, such as limited access to financial services, high transaction costs, slow processing times and unreliable payment infrastructure. These bottlenecks have led to transformations in financial services driven by technology and more recently decentralised Finance (DeFi). DeFi introduces a more reliable and efficient payment infrastructure, built on the blockchain protocol, significantly changing the way transactions are conducted. At the forefront of this disruption is Zone , a spinout from our Legacy portfolio company Appzone.

Zone is changing the way payments are made by leveraging the power of blockchain technology. Their decentralized payment infrastructure is designed to serve both the banked and unbanked populations. Already integrated with the majority of tier 1 and tier 2 banks in Nigeria, which handle the majority of payment flows, Zone has set out on a bold mission. They aim to revolutionize the traditional banking system by introducing DeFi principles while addressing the crucial issues of reliability, stability and financial inclusion. With Africa's population projected to rise to 1.7 billion people by 2030, the opportunity for cross-border payments is truly immense. Recognizing this opportunity, Zone is building a stablecoin which simplifies and drives intra-Africa payments.?

As Zone gains adoption across key African markets, we expect to see a sharp reduction in the exorbitant fees and lengthy settlement times. Zone allows users to seamlessly send and receive funds within seconds, regardless of their location. This breakthrough has profound implications for businesses engaged in international trade, streamlining their operations and reducing costs. Additionally, Zone's blockchain ensures more secure and transparent payments for businesses, individuals and regulators. This robust nature of Zone's payment solution makes it an extremely valuable investment in the Africa payments landscape.

Zone is not without its challenges as it strives for adoption and integration with major financial services players across various use cases beyond Nigeria. It is important however to note the significant progress made to date. Zone has obtained a switching license from the Nigerian central bank and delivers advanced KYC and AML checks. Its integration process with commercial banks, which once took 6-9 months, has now been significantly shortened to 6-9 weeks from proof of concept to live execution. In addition, we anticipate that the integration process will be even more streamlined in the near future with strong partnerships in the pipeline following the current capital raise.?

We invested in Appzone, Zone’s parent at the seed extension stage and working closely with the Founders, we have not only provided them financial backing but have also played a pivotal role in strengthening Zone's corporate governance, business development and its systems and processes. The recently concluded round allowed us return capital to our Investors while continuing to support the growth of its Defi payment infrastructure across Africa

If you are a DeFi investor or have experience in blockchain and want to learn more about Zone or explore partnership opportunities, kindly reach out to us at [email protected]