Kenyan Fintech Startup IMFact Secures $3.9m

Kenyan fintech startup, IMFact, has announced it secured $3.9m from FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi), the investment arm of FSD Africa.

IMFact is a non-deposit taking financial institution founded in 2019 by Cardano Development (CD), an Amsterdam-based incubator and fund manager, with funding from KfW on behalf of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation & Development (BMZ).

Cardano Development was able to establish IMFact Kenya with finance from Total Impact Capital Advisors, and it was the first regional center to go live (TIC).

IMFact uses supply chain financing to provide working capital to SMEs and plans to give £475 million in capital to roughly 570 businesses over the next five years, supporting around 5,600 jobs.

“We are delighted to welcome FSDAi into IMFact in support of our early growth in Kenya and expansion to other African markets. We are passionate about financial services innovation, and believe that IMFact will prove to be a step-change in broad access for Africa’s MSMEs to working capital. With its innovative approach in using the pooling of debtors to mitigate risk,” Joost Zuidberg, Chief Executive Officer, Cardano Development said.

IMFact uses supply chain finance to provide operating capital to SMEs. As a “pooled receivables” factoring company, IMFact buys big invoices from SMEs for a mix of upfront cash and delayed payments.

This allows sellers to invest in new merchandise, pay suppliers, and expand their business without having to follow up or wait for bills to be received.

“IMFact is extremely pleased to have passed the extensive scrutiny of FSDAi’s due diligence process which has paved the way for them to become a cornerstone investor in IMFact following the successful financial close of our third-round capital raise.

“This investment paves the way for further capital investors, including debt, which will support further deployment of capital to our fast-growing list of clients.” Peter Fiala, Chief Investment Officer, IMFact said.