Tech in Africa
Payhippo has carried out a $1 million pre-seed round led by African tech investors Future Africa, sherpa Ventures, Launch Africa, Ventures Platform, and DFS Lab. Other investors are Mercy Corps Ventures and the Hustle Fund. The funds will go into hiring manpower to sustain the current growth.
Payhippo had earlier received funding from friends and family backing from investors and Aidi Ventures – a venture builder. The lending startup is led by co-founders Chioma Okotcha (COO), Uche Nnadi (CTO), and Zach Bijesse (CEO).
Kola Aina, General Partner at Ventures Platform Fund pointed out that Payhippo are virtually “ bridging the $158B SME financing gap.”
Chioma Okotcha, the COO and Co-founder at Payhippo said that he helped run his family businesses across Nigeria and relates to the problem faced by SMEs.
A lot of businesses in Nigeria are creditworthy but do not have access to capital from banks or formal lenders due to no credit scores or collateral holdings. Payhippo accesses such businesses, building up a Payhippo score before providing them much-needed finance. Loans are issued to qualifying applicants in under 3 hours.
In a market valued at $46bn, and over 40 million SMEs across the country, Payhippo is looking to expand its outreach further.
