Kenya's pay-as-you-go startup LipaLater, has secured $12 million (Sh1.3 billion) from investors for expansion in East and Western Africa.
The funding, a mix of equity and debt, will help the company expand within its current markets Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda and enter new markets such as Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania.
It will also enable LipaLater provide its Buy-Now-Pay-Later services to its substantial current pipeline of consumers supporting Lipa’s exclusive partnerships with merchants in Sub-Saharan Africa.
LipaLater started in Kenya in 2018.
The company’s recent round of funding attracted backing from Cauris Finance, Lateral Frontiers Ventures, GreenHouse Capital, SOSV IV LLC, Sayani Investments and Axian Financial Services.
“Over the last few years, we have watched Eric Muli, CEO of LipaLater and his team put together the building blocks for Pan-African expansion and this round of funding takes LipaLater one step closer to being the dominant Buy-Now-Pay-Later player on the continent,” partner at Lateral Frontier Ventures, Samakab Hashi said.
Other than the traditional offline method of buyers purchasing items in stores, it has tapped into the rapidly growing online presence across Africa and built a unique Buy Now Pay Later option.
The option integrates into e-commerce platforms enabling merchants to sell products directly to consumers and pay for them in affordable monthly instalments.
The company’s proprietary one of a kind credit scoring and machine learning system enables the consumer to sign up and get a credit limit in seconds without the need for bulky documentation and a long lengthy credit approval process.
“With formal credit available to only a tiny minority in LipaLater’s target markets, we are excited to be supporting Lipa Later and its unique capabilities in bolstering consumer credit in the region,” Chief Investment Officer, Cauris, Azer Songnaba said.
The CEO of LipaLater, Eric Muli said that they are excited to be working with investors as they look to grow and expand to more markets in Africa.
He added that in the next 12 months they are looking to grow and double their presence in the existing markets, even as they open in three to five new markets.
LipaLater boasts a wide array of exclusive merchants and world renowned brands such as Carrefour, Apple, Tecno and Samsung.