Asilimia, a Kenyan fintech company has raised $2 million in a pre-seed round with aspirations to lend to MSMEs and grow across East Africa.
The economy of Kenya is powered by informal businesses, these contribute 33.8% to the country’s GDP, it also provide 83.4% of the total employment outside small-scale agriculture. This data was gotten from the country’s bureau of statistics. The contribution of these businesses is very important to the economy of the country, yet, they remain under-served by traditional financial institutions making it difficult for them to access the financing needed to grow.
The financing gap left by the conventional banking institutions has given an opportunity for leading to the birth of financial technology startups like Asilimia and for innovation. Asilimia has been giving a lifeline to traders in Kenya for over three years by allowing them to make mobile money transactions devoid of transfer charges, through its app known as Leja app.
Having now secured $2 million pre-seed funding ($1 million equity and $1 million debt), the fintech company is headed for its next stage of growth, it is a stage that will involve giving loans to traders, extending relief to the subgroup that is often left out and referred to as high risk by the traditional banking sector.
Funding for equity came from various investors like Fredrik Jung Abbou (a two-time unicorn founder and Norrsken Impact Accelerator, while the one for the debt round had investors like French Public Investment Bank (Bpifrance) and Green Tec Capital Partners come through. Asilimia is set to use the funding to hire talents, as it looks forward to fine-tuning its technology and also expanding another market in East Africa. Asilimia also has plans of granting loans to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), according to the data from Leja app.
The co-founder and CEO of Asilimia told TechCrunch, “We have entered a phase where we are exploring ways in which we can extend the much-needed credit enabling traders to buy equipment or products to sustain their enterprises”.
Morgane Kablan is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and co-founder of Asilimia.
Asilimia is exploring growth opportunities in other regions beyond East Africa because it seeks to continue bridging the financing gap that is presently being experienced by traders across the continent.
Funda Sezgi, Norrsken Impact Accelerator co-founder and managing Director said MSMEs play important roles across Africa, and making it easier for them to succeed will be good for the continent as a whole.
“Tekwane and the team have built a solution that works and we are delighted to be supporting them as they drive prosperity in a key sector for the African economy”, Sezgi said.
Asilimia Raises $2M in a Pre-Seed Round, Plans to Expand in East Africa
