Zanifu, Kenyan Fintech gets USD $1 million in seed funding to facilitate exapansions in Africa

Zanifu, a Kenyan fintech firm has secured seed funding of USD $1 million to facilitate its expansion into other African countries. The startup is eyeing the markets in Ghana and Uganda.

The funding round was led by Saviu Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, Sayani Investments, and other notable angel investors from Nigeria and Kenya. In total, the firm has total funding of USD $ 1.2 million. 

 History of Zanifu

The firm was established in 2017 by Sebastian Mithika and Steve Biko with the sole purpose of giving short-term financing of USD 2,000 to small and medium enterprises in Kenya. 

The firm targets to have a reach of over 15,000 fast-moving consumer goods retailers. Currently, it has given out over 85,000 working capital loans which are worth USD 13 million to 7,000 Kenyan businesses.

The Zanifu loan app enables retailers to upload all information pertaining to their purchases. From this data, the company is able to assign a credit limit based on algorithm scores after 6 hours of signing up.

Steve Biko, Zanifu co-founder, and the chief operating officer iterated that the firm is committed to being of help to fast-moving consumer goods retailers who can not access any traditional banking loans for their businesses. 

The only option these small and medium enterprises have has been digital consumer loans, which are not always suitable for them. We are filling a critical gap in providing stock financing, which enables small businesses to grow their turnovers by more than 40%, said Steve Biko.