Alerzo
“Can a B2B e-commerce marketplace become the full financial operating system for Africa's informal retailers by bundling supply, payments, and credit?”
Founded2019
HQLagos, Nigeria (with office in Ibadan)
FoundersAdewale Opaleye
Total raised$19.3M
IndustryVertical SaaS / Informal Retail (B2B e-commerce + payments)
The story
Founded 2019 as a B2B e-commerce marketplace (Alerzoshop) serving informal retailers in Nigeria. Extended into embedded finance via Alerzopay and later Veedez — POS terminals, digital wallet, agency banking, and working-capital lending — powered by an in-house CBN-licensed Payment Service Provider (Shago Payments Limited). Now positions as the 'operating system' for informal African retail, spanning commerce, payments, logistics, and business management.
Last 12 months
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Product timeline
2019
Founded in Ibadan, Nigeria to digitize informal retail via B2B e-commerce (Alerzoshop)· pivot
2020
Launched Alerzopay — cashless payment and lending platform for retailers, with POS terminals· banking
2023
Veedez launched as payment + business management product for SMEs, powered by CBN-licensed Shago Payments Limited· banking
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Alerzo
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
3 layers disclosed in Alerzo’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Shago Payments (in-house)Alerzopay (self-operated)Veedez (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
3 more providers across 2 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.