Kenyan fintech startup, Pezesha secures 7-figure seed extension financing for its African expansion

Pezesha, a Kenyan fintech startup that is currently building a scalable lending infrastructure for SMEs and institutions, has announced the raise of a seven-figure seed extension round to expand its services across Africa.

Pezesha is currently operating in three African countries – Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, with intentions to launch its presence in Uganda this September. With this latest financing round, the startup aims to set up a presence in more African countries.

The seven-figure financing round was led by GreenHouse Capital, and also includes on-lending liquidity support from GreenHouse Capital’s sister company Venture Garden Group.

The funding will support Pezesha’s continued growth across Africa and its mission to expand access to affordable working capital for SMEs, and adds to previous seed investment raised in 2018 from Consonance and last year from Seedstars.

Founded in late 2016, Pezesha has created a holistic digital financial infrastructure that connects small and medium-sized businesses to working capital offered by banks, MFIs, and other financial institutions or networks.

In Kenya, where the startup first launched, it gained regulatory approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and became the first Kenyan company to successfully pass out of the CMA sandbox with a letter of no objection to operate in the country.

“We are delighted to have GreenHouse Capital join the Pezesha family. We have 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.