Following an $11 million pre-Series A equity-debt round led by Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II and with participation from Verdant Frontiers Fintech Fund, cFund, and Cardano blockchain builder Input Output Global, Kenya’s embedded finance fintech Pezesha expands into Nigeria, Rwanda, and Francophone Africa (IOG). Talanton and Verdant Capital Specialist Funds also contributed $5 million debt to the round.
The fintech’s new growth strategy builds on its plan to expand its embedded finance offering beyond its current markets, which include Uganda and Ghana, to bridge the financing gap that affects millions of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in these countries.
Hilda Moraa founded Pezesha in 2017, intending to create a scalable digital lending infrastructure that allows both traditional and non-traditional financial institutions to offer working capital to MSMEs.
The fintech collaborates with partners like Twiga and MarketForce, which integrate its credit scoring APIs into their platforms to provide customers with real-time loan offers.
Pezesha stated that it currently works with over 20 partner companies, allowing it to extend loans to over 100,000 businesses. This figure is expected to rise before the end of the year as an additional ten companies integrate with its infrastructure. The fintech can make loans of up to $10,000 with interest rates in the single digits and a one-year repayment period.
Pezesha intends to provide $100 million in financing to businesses annually by leveraging local and international banking institutions, high-net-worth individuals, and decentralized finance.
Moraa stated that collaborating with strategic partners such as Cardano will open up the debt liquidity market and provide the necessary affordable capital for the growth of all sectors of the economy.
The fintech intends to expand lending opportunities for women entrepreneurs currently excluded from the formal banking sector. Pezesha did not disclose previous funding amounts, but Moraa noted that 20% of its initial pre-seed investment in 2017 came from local angels. Seedstars, GreenHouse Capital, and Consonance Investment Managers are among the investors in the fintech, which raised seven figures last year.
Moraa, also the CEO, believes that Pezesha has the right business model, is profitable, and will continue to seek investors who share its goals and values.
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