Kippa, a Nigerian financial management and payment platform for small businesses, has announced that it raised $8.4 million in a new seed round.
Driving the news
The startup, which began a little over a year ago and raised $3.2 million in November 2021, stated in the public statement that the newly raised funds sponsored by global investors would help the company develop products that will help SMEs grow their businesses.
- Global investors involved in this round of funding include Goodwater Capital, TEN13 VC, Rocketship VC, Saison Capital (the venture arm of Credit Saison), Crestone VC (led by Inanc Balci, Co-founder and former CEO at Lazada), VentureSouq, Horizon Partners and Vibe Capital.
Why it matters
Tech startups on the continent have come a long way; from raising $2 billion in investment in 2019 to raising over $3.1 billion by the end of the second quarter of 2022. Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has definitely played a major role in driving this growth.
The continuous investment in African startups shows that although tech’s climate might be falling short in infrastructure, investment, and policies, there is a world of untampered opportunities locked up in this sector.
To this end, analysts have projected Africa’s tech market to grow from $115 billion to $712 billion by 2050, considering tech startups on the continent are growing in fundings at six times more than the global average.
What you should know
Kippa is a company that allows small-sized business owners to operate multiple services from one platform. These services include opening bank accounts, receiving and sending payments, designing online web stores, and managing their entire business.
Kippa is present in 774 local governments in the country, servicing over 500,000 merchants on its platform. The company has recorded transactions of over $3 billion.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) licensed the company to operate as a Super-Agent under the Payment Solution Service license category.