Access to finance remains a key growth problem for small businesses, with data showing a $330 billion financing gap for small enterprises, which comprise 90% of African businesses.
That’s the gap Kenya’s inclusive finance fintech Pezesha is looking to bridge as it expands into Nigeria, Rwanda and Francophone Africa with an $11 million equity loan round led by Women’s World Bank Capital Partners II, along with Verdant Frontiers Fintech Fund. , cFund and Cardano blockchain developer Input Output Global (IOG). The round also included a $5 million loan from Talenton and Verdant Capital Specialists funds.
The fintech’s new growth strategy follows plans to expand access to finance beyond existing markets to bridge the financing gap for the millions of micro and small medium enterprises (MSMEs) in these markets, including Uganda and Ghana.
In the year Founded in 2017 by Hilda Mora, Pezesha has built a scalable digital lending infrastructure that enables traditional and non-traditional financial institutions to provide working capital to MSMEs.
“The opportunity and impact in solving problems for small scale and small working capital is huge. [We are] Solving the root cause of ensuring quality and responsible credit, solving information asymmetry issues. Pezesha solves this with our robust API-driven authentication technology,” CEO Mora told TechCrunch.
Pezesha is tapping local and international banking institutions, HNWIs and DeFi to secure loans for its next mortgage.. Image Credits: Fix it
The fintech works with partner companies like Twiga and MarketForce, which integrate credit score APIs into their platforms to enable customers to get real-time loan offers.
Pezesha said he is working with more than 20 partner companies that have been able to extend loans to more than 100,000 businesses so far. This number is expected to grow before the end of the year when an additional 10 companies are integrated with the infrastructure. FinTech can offer loans of up to $10,000 at single-digit interest rates and one-year repayment terms.
Pezesha plans to tap local and international banking institutions, high-net-worth individuals and decentralized finance to create a $100 million financing opportunity for businesses.
“We’re building for the future, and that means tapping into innovation for added liquidity,” says Mora, a two-time founder who launched Pezesha after a successful exit from Weza Telen in 2015.
“Facilitating the movement of capital to emerging markets to support economic growth and job creation is a core promise of blockchain and cryptocurrencies,” Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of IOG and Cardano, said in a statement about their investment in Pezesha. . Our vision is focused on using technology to enable people around the world to borrow and borrow in a streamlined way. This investment in Pezesha is an important milestone, and we are excited to be a part of their growth story.
IOG’s investment in Pezesha is as follows: Early notice The two companies have partnered to build a peer-to-peer financial operating system for Africa.
Image Credits: Fix it
Working with strategic partners like Cardano will open up the debt settlement market and provide affordable capital that is critical to the growth of all sectors of the economy, Moraa said.
Fintech plans to open up more credit opportunities for women entrepreneurs who continue to be shut out by the formal banking sector.
“Pezesha is committed to solving Africa’s working capital crisis through a strong credit infrastructure, and this investment will allow them to further expand the financial products available to women-owned MSMEs in particular,” said Christina “CJ” Juhazz, Chief Investment Officer of Women’s World Bank Asset Management.
Pezesha didn’t disclose how much it had previously raised, but Moraa said 20% of its initial seed investment in 2017 came from local angels. The fintech, which raised seven figures last year, counts Seedstars, GreenHouse Capital and Consonance Investment Managers among its many investors.
“We have the right business model, we are profitable, and we will continue to pursue the type of investors that are aligned with our goals and values,” said Mora.
