The funding round was led by Beyond Capital Ventures and Variant Investments.
The round also saw participation from other investors, including Founders Factory Africa, AAIC Investment, Google Black Founders Fund, and existing investor Launch Africa.
This brings the total debt-equity funding raised by the startup to $12.7 million.
Zanifu’s inventory financing product provides MSMEs with access to working capital to purchase inventory.
The company uses a proprietary credit scoring model to assess the risk of each borrower and offers loans with terms of up to 12 months.
The new funding will be used to scale Zanifu’s operations in Kenya and to launch new products and services.
The company also plans to use the funding to hire more staff and build its technology platform.
Zanifu is on a mission to provide affordable and accessible inventory financing to MSMEs in Kenya.
The startup’s inventory financing product has already helped over 1,000 MSMEs in Kenya to grow their businesses.
Zanifu’s latest investment is a positive development for the fintech sector in Kenya and will help to promote financial inclusion and to support the growth of MSMEs.
“We are delighted to partner with ISA to support the development of solar energy in Africa,” said Alain Ebobissé, CEO of Africa50. “This partnership will help to accelerate the deployment of solar energy in Africa and improve the lives of millions of Africans,” he added.
Swedfund, a Swedish development finance institution (DFI), has partnered with African credit fund BluePeak Private Capital Fund to invest $5 million in Bridge Bank Microfinance (BBM), a subsidiary of West Africa-based Teyliom Finance.
Nairobi-based Purple Elephant Ventures (PEV), a startup studio focused on tourism, has secured an extra $500,000 to boost its seed funding round to $5 million.
South African agri-tech startup Nile has secured $11.3 million in funding to expand its operations across Southern Africa.
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