Nigerian Retail-Tech Startup Alerzo Acquires Shago Payments To Boost Growth

Alerzo, a Nigerian retail-tech startup has acquired fintech company Shago Payments to boost growth. The acquisition of Shago payments will enable the integration of Shago into the company’s payments arm, AlerzoPay.

The new development will provide the informal retail stores access to new digital services such as mobile airtime top-up, bill payments and peer-to-peer transfers.

Founded in 2019, the Ibadan-based retail-tech startup, Alerzo, is an all-in-one technology and services platform that transforms how Nigeria’s informal retail stores operate. Retailers can order stock, have it delivered quickly, receive and make cashless payments, and track store profitability. Alerzo currently works with more than 150,000 informal retail stores.

The startup announced a US$10.5 million Series A round, led by London-based Nosara Capital, in August, and since then has more than doubled its revenues and built a payments business. The latter was facilitated by the recent acquisition of Shago Payments, a fintech startup founded by payments industry veteran Sabastine Enechi.

Alerzo has also expanded its operations to the Middle Belt and Northern regions of Nigeria and now operates in Abuja and Kano. The company plans to serve most of Nigeria before the end of next year.

Alerzo Founded by Adewale Opaleye, said he created the company to meet a core need that his mother, a businesswoman, had at the time.

“I started Alerzo to help my mom, a single mother who ran two informal retail stores to support me and my three siblings. Before Alerzo, she had to close her shop and travel for hours to buy the inventory to stay in business.

“Women are often victims of theft because street boys know retail store operators often carry cash. I wanted to apply what I learned in China to make life better for working mothers in Nigeria.” He said.

Today, Alezo one of the fastest-growing startups in Nigeria, announced that its annualized September transaction volume had grown more than five times since the beginning of 2021, exceeding $155 million.

Commenting on the acquisition, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, the co-founder of Flutterwave and Andela and a member of Alerzo’s advisory board, said that the firm’s decision to serve communities “that are truly excluded” was inspiring: “Alerzo’s focus on excluded but commercially viable commerce communities in smaller cities like Ibadan is exemplary and visionary.”

He also said most businesses “talk a good game” about financial and economic inclusion but then proceed to focus their businesses on commercially savvy megacities like Lagos or Nairobi.