Payaza
“Can a Nigerian payment gateway become the operating system for African commerce end-to-end, from checkout to storefront?”
Founded2022
HQLagos, Nigeria (with New York, US presence)
FoundersSeyi Ebenezer
Total raised$92.3M
IndustryInfrastructure / Payments
The story
Payaza launched in 2022 as a Nigerian payment gateway serving pan-African merchants across cards, mobile money, bank transfers, and virtual accounts. The company has built financial credibility through the Nigerian commercial paper market rather than dilutive equity, raising over ₦70bn across six CP series. In 2026, Payaza expanded beyond payments infrastructure into a full merchant operating layer with Shopaza (e-commerce storefronts) and ChatPay (social commerce), positioning itself as an operating system for African businesses selling locally and to the diaspora.
Product timeline
2022
Payaza founded as a pan-African payment gateway.· banking
2025
Raised and repaid ₦14.9bn through commercial paper issuance in under six months.· lending
2026
Launched Shopaza, a cloud-based e-commerce platform for African merchants.· pivot
2026
Announced ChatPay, a social commerce checkout product.· pivot
2026
Received AA- credit rating from DataPro and A- from Intelligence Africa.· lending
2026
Launched Series 1 & 2 Commercial Papers under ₦150bn CP Programme (targeting ₦50bn).· lending
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Payaza
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
2 layers disclosed in Payaza’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Payaza (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
1 more provider across 1 layer, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.