Nairobi, Kenya – Lipa Later, one of the first
of its kind buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) companies operating in Kenya, Rwanda,
Uganda, and Nigeria, has raised USD 12 million from a consortium of investors.
The
funding, which is a mix of equity and debt, will help Lipa Later expand within
its current markets (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda) and into new markets such as
Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania. It will also allow Lipa Later to provide its
Buy-Now-Pay-Later services to its substantial current pipeline of consumers
supporting
Lipa’s
exclusive partnerships with world-class merchants in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Lipa
Later, which started in Kenya in 2018 has built a reputation for delivering
value for its investors right from its early days; the company’s recent round
of funding attracted backing from Cauris Finance, Lateral Frontiers VC,
GreenHouse Capital, SOSV IV LLC, Sayani Investments and Axian Financial
Services.
Speaking about the investment, Samakab Hashi, Partner at Lateral
Frontier VC, one
of Lipa Later’s first investors, said, “Over the last few years, we have watched
Eric Muli, CEO of Lipa Later and his team put together the building blocks for
Pan-African expansion and this round of funding takes Lipa Later one step
closer to being the dominant Buy-Now-Pay-Later player on the Continent.”
Other
than the traditional offline method of buyers purchasing items in stores, Lipa
Later has tapped into the rapidly growing online presence across Africa and built
a unique Buy Now Pay Later option API that integrates into e-commerce platforms
enabling merchants to sell products directly to consumers and pay for them in
affordable monthly installments.
Lipa
Later’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 Lipa Later’s target markets, we are excited to be
supporting Lipa Later and its unique capabilities in bolstering consumer credit
in the region,” said Azer
Songnaba, the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Cauris.
Ruby Nimkar, Partner at
GreenHouse Capital added, “Lipa Later is not
only changing the consumer credit landscape across Africa, which to date has
been largely inaccessible for most but also catalyzing the future of shopping,
e-commerce, and payments.”
“They’ve done this in a truly
product and customer-led way that benefits both merchants and consumers and has
proven to be incredibly scalable across multiple markets,” she explained.
In appreciation of his new
investors, Eric
Muli, the Co-Founder and CEO of Lipa Later said, “We are excited to be working with our investors as
we look to grow and expand to more markets in Africa. In the next 12 months, we
are looking to grow and double our presence in the existing markets, even as we
open in three to five new markets in Africa.”
The
funding, which is a mix of equity and debt, will help Lipa Later expand within
its current markets (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda) and into new markets such as
Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania. It will also allow Lipa Later to provide its
Buy-Now-Pay-Later services to its substantial current pipeline of consumers
supporting
Lipa’s
exclusive partnerships with world-class merchants in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Lipa
Later, which started in Kenya in 2018 has built a reputation for delivering
value for its investors right from its early days; the company’s recent round
of funding attracted backing from Cauris Finance, Lateral Frontiers VC,
GreenHouse Capital, SOSV IV LLC, Sayani Investments and Axian Financial
Services.
Speaking about the investment, Samakab Hashi, Partner at Lateral
Frontier VC, one
of Lipa Later’s first investors, said, “Over the last few years, we have watched
Eric Muli, CEO of Lipa Later and his team put together the building blocks for
Pan-African expansion and this round of funding takes Lipa Later one step
closer to being the dominant Buy-Now-Pay-Later player on the Continent.”
Other
than the traditional offline method of buyers purchasing items in stores, Lipa
Later has tapped into the rapidly growing online presence across Africa and built
a unique Buy Now Pay Later option API that integrates into e-commerce platforms
enabling merchants to sell products directly to consumers and pay for them in
affordable monthly installments.
Lipa
Later’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 Lipa Later’s target markets, we are excited to be
supporting Lipa Later and its unique capabilities in bolstering consumer credit
in the region,” said Azer
Songnaba, the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Cauris.
Ruby Nimkar, Partner at
GreenHouse Capital added, “Lipa Later is not
only changing the consumer credit landscape across Africa, which to date has
been largely inaccessible for most but also catalyzing the future of shopping,
e-commerce, and payments.”
“They’ve done this in a truly
product and customer-led way that benefits both merchants and consumers and has
proven to be incredibly scalable across multiple markets,” she explained.
In appreciation of his new
investors, Eric
Muli, the Co-Founder and CEO of Lipa Later said, “We are excited to be working with our investors as
we look to grow and expand to more markets in Africa. In the next 12 months, we
are looking to grow and double our presence in the existing markets, even as we
open in three to five new markets in Africa.”
Source: LipaLater
