Fintech platform Kippa raised $3.2 million in a recently concluded pre-seed funding round led by Berlin-based Venture Capital Target Global. The round saw the participation of Entrée Capital, Rally Cap Venture and Alter Global. Angel investors were also a part of the funding round. Angel investors that were part of the round include; Kuda’s CEO – Babs Ogundeyi, Sriram Krishnan known to be an investor in India’s Khatabook, the CEO of Auxmoney – Raffael Johnen; Sajid Rahman and, Good water Capital’s Kyane Kassiri, Chris Bouwer and Edward Suh.
Kippa’s platform provides efficient ways of keeping records and helps owners of small businesses to keep track of all their income and expenses, create invoices and receipts, manage inventory and give these small business owners the ability to track how their businesses fared over a period of time.
According to Kippa, its biggest feature is helping business owners keep track of their debtors by sending automated reminders to them. It is the company’s claim that business owners who use Kippa’s debt reminder feature recover debts at least three times faster than those who rely on their orthodox bookkeeping methods.
While most of the already available features on Kippa’s platform have been geared towards enticing businesses to join the platform, the company plans on introducing credit facilities and other financial services to boost the number of businesses on the platform.
Headquartered in Lagos, Kippa was started by Kennedy Ekezie, Duke Ekezie and Jephthah Uche in February 2021, following the shut-down of its software talent matching platform Africave last year. According to the company’s CEO Kennedy Ekezie, the biggest problems faced by small businesses is not the ability to properly keep records, but the scarcity of working capital and the limited access to credit facilities hence the reason it is introducing credit facilities on the platform. “For us, what we do is we have such a unique opportunity to provide financial services to users. For most of them, Kippa is the first B2B SaaS app that they’re using. And we do have a unique opportunity to help them accept online digital payments, to provide them with working capital, digital savings and plug them into the financial ecosystem”.
Currently, Kippa remains free for businesses to use but the introduction of credit facilities and accompanying financial services will see the company make revenue from commissions or interests charged off lending or working capital.
Kippa claims to have grown at an average of 126 percent month-on-month since it started in February this year. The company says it has more than 130,000 businesses ranging from small kiosks and shops to local food vendors and high-end merchants using its platform and has recorded over $300 million in the past five months.
These figures are what attracted investments from participating investors in Kippa’s seed round as they show the company’s potentials for growth if provided with both the required fund and enabling environment. The funds acquired in Kippa’s pre-seed round will be used to grow its businesses, revamp its product offering and introduce financial services.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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