Bizao

Simplify payments

Epitaph

“Here lies Bizao. Its APIs let companies accept mobile money and cards across a dozen African markets, up to 350 million requests a month. Six years of volume never turned into profit, and a Paris court called the final settlement.”

Overview

Born: 2019 (Year)
Died: April 2025 (Month)
Lifespan: 6 years
Fate: Shut down
Headquarters: 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire
Category: Fintech
Stage at death: Series A
Primary cause: Funding or runway
Contributing causes: Business model or unit economics, Regulation

Death certificate

Timeline

2019Bizao founded
Aurelien Duval-Delort launches a B2B payments API startup serving African markets
2022Series A raised
EUR8M led by AfricInvest's Financial Inclusion Vehicle
March 2025Enters receivership
Bizao SAS enters court-supervised receivership in France
April 2025Bidding process opens
Court seeks a buyer for the company
27 May 2025Compulsory liquidation ordered
Paris court orders liquidation of Bizao SAS
12 June 2025Liquidation ruling published
Website taken offline

Autopsy report

Why did Bizao shut down?

Bizao, an Ivorian-founded B2B payments API startup based in Paris, was placed into compulsory liquidation by a Paris court on May 27, 2025 (ruling published June 12, 2025) after failing to secure additional funding or a buyer during a court-supervised receivership process. The company, which processed up to 350 million payment requests per month across several African markets, never achieved sustained profitability across six years of operation.

What Bizao attempted

APIs and financial flows letting companies accept local African payment methods — mobile money, Visa/Mastercard, airtime — through a unified platform, operating across countries including Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Tunisia, Senegal and the DRC.

What worked

Raised an €8 million Series A in 2022 led by AfricInvest's Financial Inclusion Vehicle with Seedstars Africa Ventures and Adelie; reported roughly 20x transaction volume growth and processed up to 300-350 million payment requests per month at peak; generated €6.3M in revenue in 2020.

Early warning signs

Despite revenue, the company posted a €694K operating loss against a minimal €393K equity cushion in 2020, carried €3.6M in liabilities, and saw revenue roughly flatten from €5.4M to €5.3M between 2022 and 2023; the capital-intensive, multi-country compliance model made profitability difficult.

What happened

Bizao SAS entered court-supervised receivership in France in March 2025; a court-run bidding process in April 2025 failed to produce a buyer; on May 27, 2025 the Paris Economic Activities Court ordered compulsory liquidation, with the ruling published June 12, 2025 and the company's website taken offline, while some African subsidiaries reportedly continued operating independently.

Lessons for future builders

Enormous transaction volume means nothing if each new market adds compliance cost faster than margin. In capital-intensive, multi-country payments, prove a path to profit per corridor before expanding, and do not let scale outrun the equity that must absorb the losses.