Gozem, the Francophone West and Central African super-app platform, is set to receive up to €21 million ($24.5M) in debt financing from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to scale its vehicle financing arm, Gozem Financing. The proposed IFC package arrives roughly a year after the company closed a $30 million Series B round, and signals continued momentum in the niche but increasingly competitive market for financing professional drivers who cannot afford vehicles upfront.
The IFC investment is structured in three tranches: a senior “A” loan of up to €8 million from the IFC’s own balance sheet; a subordinated loan of up to €8 million deployed through the IDA21 Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility and the IFC’s Concessional Capital Window; and a further €5 million that the IFC expects to mobilise from other lenders. The blended finance element — combining concessional funds with IFC’s own resources — is designed to support high-impact private sector projects in fragile and low-income settings while limiting financial exposure to allocated IDA resources.
The proceeds will be used exclusively for fleet expansion across four target markets — Benin, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and Togo — over a three-year period from 2026 to 2028. According to the IFC disclosure, Gozem currently facilitates around one million trips per month through its ride-hailing and delivery platform.
The transaction builds on an earlier IFC engagement: in May 2021, the corporation extended a €1.9 million senior corporate loan to Gozem through its “Upstream” facility, which co-developed the vehicle-financing business that today accounts for a significant share of the group’s activity.
How Gozem Financing works — the “Drive-to-Buy” model
Gozem Financing offers instalment-payment plans covering four asset categories: smartphones (used to run the SuperApp), motorbikes, three-wheelers and cars. The programme also bundles accessories and services such as helmets, jackets, insurance and maintenance. Contracts under the “Drive-to-Buy” (DTB) scheme range from 12 to 52 months, depending on the vehicle type.
Drivers enrolled in the programme are required to work a specified minimum number of hours and complete a minimum number of trips each day to generate enough revenue to cover vehicle instalments. Earnings are deposited into a digital wallet on the SuperApp, from which Gozem Financing deducts daily payments automatically. Before a driver is onboarded, Gozem runs a physical driving test to verify minimum competency and provides protective gear where needed.
Gozem procures vehicles from both local and international distributors and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Maintenance is handled by those suppliers for the duration of the contracts; where that service is unavailable — notably for motorbikes — Gozem has contracts with one or two maintenance workshops per country. Minor oil changes are performed in-house at Gozem’s own premises. The company operates from leased offices in the capital city of each country it serves; these hubs double as driver training centres and support service points.
Why the IFC is backing Gozem — again
The IFC’s renewed support underlines the development rationale behind vehicle financing in Francophone Africa. In a LinkedIn post following a visit to Togo in 2025, IFC Vice President for Africa Ethiopis Tafara stated that “IFC’s financing will help expand Gozem’s lease-to-own platform — enabling thousands of drivers to access vehicles, training, insurance, and more.”
For the IFC, Gozem represents what it calls a “pioneering” investment: a technology-enabled model that directly tackles the lack of access to asset financing for informal-economy workers. The blended finance facility that partly funds the loan is explicitly targeted at “high development impact” sectors, including small and medium enterprises, infrastructure and climate change mitigation.
Gozem’s social-impact narrative is supported by its own figures. As of late 2025, the company reported that it had generated more than $90 million in cumulative earnings for 40,000 driver-partners, branded internally as “Champions.” Over 7,000 vehicles had been financed for a total outlay of around $20 million.
Growth trajectory
The IFC facility comes on the heels of a transformative 12 months for the Lomé-based company. In early 2025, Gozem closed a $30 million Series B round split equally between equity and debt. The equity portion was led by SAS Shipping Agencies Services (a subsidiary of MSC Group) and Casablanca-based Al Mada Ventures. The debt component was earmarked primarily for vehicle financing.
The Series B was intended to strengthen Gozem’s vehicle-financing vertical and accelerate the rollout of Gozem Money, its digital banking platform. Co-founder Raphael Dana said at the time that the company expected “to triple or quadruple its growth in 2025 with the new capital.”
Independent data point to significant scale. According to Latka, a business-intelligence platform, Gozem’s 2025 revenue reached $112.9 million with a headcount of 590 employees. Other estimates place annual revenue closer to $72 million; the variance likely reflects differences in how gross merchandise value (GMV) and recognised commission income are measured.
In terms of user traction, Gozem surpassed one million registered users in 2025 and counted nearly 10,000 registered drivers. Its digital-money arm, Gozem Money, processes millions of dollars in mobile payments daily.
Strategic expansion and the competitive landscape
Gozem’s ambition extends beyond its current five-country footprint (Togo, Benin, Gabon, Cameroon and, since November 2025, the Republic of Congo). In early 2026, the company officially launched its V+ Car financing programme in Brazzaville, partnering with telecom operator MTN Congo to equip financed vehicles with Wi-Fi routers. It has also indicated plans to enter Côte d’Ivoire by the end of 2026, a move that would pit it against more established ride-hailing and delivery players in Abidjan.
The vehicle-financing space is becoming crowded. Uber-backed Moove, Ugandan fintech Asaak and Nigerian mobility platform MAX all offer similar asset-financing products across different African markets. In early 2026, British mobility fintech GoCab raised $45 million (split between $15 million equity and $30 million debt) to finance close to 10,000 vehicles in West Africa and other emerging markets, explicitly targeting the same gig-economy driver segment.
What differentiates Gozem, according to its founders, is the integrated ecosystem. “Our main client is the professional driver,” co-founder Gregory Costamagna said. “We build an ecosystem to help drivers earn more money and evolve in their lives. If they’re successful, our entire business is successful.”
Investors appear to be buying into that vision. MSC Group President Diego Aponte described Gozem as “an exceptional company that aligns perfectly with the MSC Group’s commitment to Africa.” Al Mada Ventures CEO Omar Laalej praised Gozem’s “inclusive, reliable and user-friendly Super App model.”
Risks
Gozem’s financing model is not without risk. The company’s ability to collect daily instalments depends on sustained driver earnings, which in turn are influenced by fuel prices, currency fluctuations and competitive pressures on ride fares. The IFC project document notes that GF drivers are required to meet minimum trip and hour thresholds to remain in good standing, but does not disclose default or delinquency rates.
Another risk is currency mismatch. Gozem earns revenue predominantly in West and Central African CFA francs, while vehicle procurement and a portion of its debt obligations may be denominated in hard currency. The IFC’s blended finance facility includes a local-currency window in some markets, though it is unclear whether Gozem’s loan benefits from such a mechanism.
Operationally, Gozem’s expansion into the Republic of Congo and a planned entry into Côte d’Ivoire will test its ability to adapt its model to larger, more competitive markets. In Congo, the company has partnered with MTN to add onboard Wi-Fi as a differentiator, but sustaining driver loyalty in a market with multiple ride-hailing options will require continuous investment in vehicle supply and brand.
Outlook
The IFC loan, once finalised, will provide Gozem with long-term, concessional capital that complements the equity and commercial debt it raised in its Series B. The three-year facility aligns with the lifespan of its Drive-to-Buy contracts, giving the company a more matched asset-liability profile than many of its peers that rely on shorter-tenor venture debt.
With the vehicle-financing pipeline expanding and a super-app strategy that increasingly resembles Southeast Asia’s Grab and Gojek rather than earlier, less successful African experiments, Gozem is positioning itself as the reference player in Francophone Africa’s mobility-and-fintech convergence. Whether it can maintain credit discipline and driver earnings growth while entering new markets will determine whether the IFC’s bet pays off — and whether Gozem can deliver on its founders’ projections of tripling growth.