Fintech startup, Kippa raises $8.4m funding to expand offerings

Financial management and payment platform, Kippa has announced a new funding round of $8.4 million, ten months after its initial pre-seed round of $3.2 million. This brings the total pre-seed round to $11.6 million since the company’s inception in 2021.

According to the announcement, the round was led by Goodwater Capital, TEN13 VC, Rocketship VC, Saison Capital, Crestone VC, VentureSouq, Horizon Partners and Vibe Capital.

In addition to reinforcing its mission to make it simple for anyone to start and run successful small businesses in Africa, Kippa says that the recent funding will enable it to expand its services and offer more merchants better digital business and financial management solutions for their small and medium enterprises.

The last fundraising round, which took place in November 2021, was intended to help merchants digitize bookkeeping and recover consumer debts by introducing them to easy-to-use mobile bookkeeping software.

According to the company, since the pre-seed announcement in November 2021, it has made tremendous progress in recruiting ex-regulators and former senior executives at top startups, including OPay, BharatPe, Khatabook, TeamApt, OKCredit, NIBSS, and Unified Payments, amongst others.

Some key appointments include hiring immediate past Deputy Managing Director at the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Niyi Ajao as Chairman; Toyin Albert as Executive Director of Payments Services; and Osagie Alonge as Director of Marketing.

Commenting on the impact the funding will have, Kennedy Ekezie-Joseph, CEO reiterated their mission goal for its users.

We expect the number of digitally active small businesses to grow exponentially over the next three to five years. As more small businesses come online, Kippa will own the money button on the devices of these merchants.

Kippa CEO Kennedy Ekezie-Joseph.

Read Also: Nigerian fintech, Kippa raises $3.2m pre-seed fund to boost life cycle of SMEs

About Kippa

Kippa provides digital business and financial management solutions to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria to enable them to grow and embrace financial inclusion. Its objective is to unlock socio-economic and financial success in Africa.

With the help of the user-friendly application, small business owners can manage inventory, create invoices and receipts, keep track of daily revenue and spending activities, and more on the app.

Compared to its claim, in November 2021, of logging more than $300 million in sales since its interception, the team asserts that it currently serves over 500,000 merchants within its network and has seen the annualised transaction record on the platform exceed $3 billion.

Read Also: Kippa app promises simple bookkeeping to SMEs, but there are questions

Getting a Super Agent Banking Licence

The Central Bank of Nigeria only last week granted Kippa a license to work as a Super Agent under the category of license for Payment Solution Service.

With the license, Kippa is now able to expand its network of merchants and provide them resources like a one-stop shop for basic financial services like cash withdrawals and deposits, bank account opening, bill and utility payments, and insurance.

Commenting on this licence approval, Toyin Albert, Executive Director, Payment Services, expressed his joy. He said:

We are excited to offer further financial services to our merchants, which align with the CBN’s broader financial inclusion strategy. We are fully aware of the existing regulatory framework and requirements and will continue to drive our initiatives to millions of Nigerians while engaging all stakeholders concerned.

Toyin Albert, Executive Director, Payment Services

According to the most current data by Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), there are approximately 49.3 million business owners nationwide, the majority of them are micro-entrepreneurs who are primarily driven by trade and service.

Kippa anticipates making significant advancements thanks to the new funding and license approval, especially in terms of offering its clients improved financial management services.