Pezesha, a Kenyan fintech startup that is building scalable lending infrastructure for SMEs and institutions, has closed a seven-figure seed extension round as it plans to expand across Africa.
Pezesha, which began operations in late 2016, has built a comprehensive digital financial infrastructure that connects small and medium-sized businesses to working capital provided by banks, microfinance institutions, and other financial institutions or networks.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) granted the startup regulatory approval, and it also became the first Kenyan company to successfully exit the CMA sandbox with a letter of no objection to operate in Kenya. Pezesha, which is already operational in Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria, will launch in Uganda later this month and plans to expand after raising a seed extension round.
GreenHouse Capital led the seven-figure round, which also includes on-lending liquidity support from Venture Garden Group, GreenHouse Capital’s sister company. The funding will support Pezesha’s continued expansion across Africa, as well as its mission to expand access to affordable working capital for SMEs. It follows previous seed funding from Consonance in 2018 and Seedstars last year.
“We are delighted to have GreenHouse Capital join the Pezesha family. We are aligned in vision as well as our commitment to solving the working capital challenges that are preventing African SMEs from achieving their full growth potential,” said Hilda Moraa, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Pezesha.
“GreenHouse Capital’s investment will catapult our growth by enabling us to scale our existing partnerships with the likes of Twiga Foods, Jumia, Marketforce, and Popote Pay, among others. More so, the investment will unlock our vision of building the operating system to power embedded finance in Africa.”
Ruby Nimkar, principal at GreenHouse Capital, said Pezesha was breaking down barriers to SME financing by taking an ecosystem approach to the problem of access to capital.
“Their embedded finance model is truly groundbreaking, and we have full confidence in Hilda and the talented team at Pezesha to take their model into new markets and continuously close the SME financing gap across Africa,” she said.
