Zanifu, a Kenyan fintech firm that provides short-term working capital loans to MSMEs in the FMCG supply chain, has acquired a $1 million initial investment round to help it expand and improve its platform.
Zanifu was founded in 2017 by Steve Biko and Sebastian Mithika and began operations the following year. It has awarded over 85,000 loans totalling over US $13 million to over 7,000 Kenyan SMEs.
The firm has recently obtained a seed investment round that was oversubscribed in order to help it grow and enhance its product development. Saviu Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, Sayani Investments, and angel investors from Kenya and Nigeria were among the investors in a pre-seed round in early 2020.
Zanifu currently hopes to expand into other areas including Ghana and Uganda, with the goal of providing financial access to over 15,000 FMCG shops in the next 12 months. Biko also stated that it will grow its staff and continue to develop on its platform in order to better onboard and support MSMEs.
“We serve FMCG retailers, especially the ones that are too small to access traditional bank finance for their businesses. The only option for these MSMEs has been digital consumer loans, which are not always suitable for them. We are filling a critical gap in providing stock financing, which is enabling small businesses to grow their turnovers by more than 40 per cent,” he said.
