NAIROBI, Kenya Sept 1 – Pezesha team has raised Sh1.32billiom for the first-round stock for startups, led by Women’s World Banking Capital Partners together in a bid to grow its finance platform.
Access to finance remains a key growth constraint for small businesses, therefore the company seeks to bridge the financing gaps affecting many small medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.
“The opportunity and impact in solving working capital problems for SMEs is huge. We are solving the root cause, which is information asymmetry issues, to ensure quality and responsible borrowing. Pezesha solves this through our robust API-driven credit scoring technology,” said Hilda Moraa, Pezesha’s CEO.
The Women World Banking loaned an equity debt to the financial company as it plans to expand in Nigeria, Ghana and Francophone Africa.
“Pezesha is dedicated to solving Africa’s working capital problem through its robust lending infrastructure, and this investment will allow them to deepen the range of financial products offering especially to women-owned MSMEs,” said Christina Juhasz, the chief investment officer of Women’s World Banking Asset Management
Cardano, a blockchain builder platform, has invested in the Firm in order to enhance emerging markets of cryptocurrencies in Kenya and Africa at large.
“Facilitating the movement of capital into emerging markets to support economic growth and job creation is a core promise of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Our vision is centered on using technology to make it easier for people across the globe to borrow and lend to each other in a regulated way. This investment in Pezesha is an important milestone, and we’re excited to be a part of their growth story,” said Charles Hoskinson, the co-founder.
Founded in 2017, Pezesha has built a scalable digital lending infrastructure that allows both traditional and non-traditional financial institutions to offer working capital to MSMEs.
The fintech firm works with partner companies such as Twiga and MarketForce, which integrate its credit record of the Application Programming Interface (APIs) in their platforms to allow their customers to get real-time loan offers.
The firm plans to create a Sh12billion financing opportunity each year for businesses and women entrepreneurs by tapping local and international banking institutions, wealthy individuals, and decentralized finance.
“We are building for the future and this means tapping new innovations for additional liquidity that allows us to offer affordable loans to SMEs,” said Moraa.
