Kenyan Startup, Lipa Later Raises $12 Million In Series A Funding, To Extend Influence To Nigeria And Other African Markets

Consumer credit platform, Lipa Later has announced has raised a $12 million pre-Series A funding, in a move by the Kenyan startup to reach different frontiers by expanding its markets to access new African markets.

The Equity and Debt Funding round was steered by Cauris Finance, Lateral Frontiers VC and GreenHouse Capital, and also supported by SOSV IV ILLS, Sayani Investments, and Anxian Financial Services. 

“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,” said Eric Muli, CEO and Co-founder of Lipa Later. 

Probed further on the latest series A funding round, partner at Lateral Frontiers VC, Samakab Hashi, affirmed that “this latest round of funding leaves them well placed to expand their product offering and takes Lipa Later one step closer to being the dominant Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) player on the continent.” 

The Lipa Later, a BNPL startup is set to extend its influence in the region to reach Tanzania, Ghana, and Nigeria, all while it aims to enlarge its predominant market influence, with a tireless, unrelenting focus on Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. 

The startup has exclusive collaborations with various retailers in these markets, giving shoppers the opportunity to pay for any products in instalments.

 TechCrunch analysed the collaborations when the renowned Tech web page wrote that one of these successful partnerships is the aligning effort with French retail giant, Carrefour, which permits consumers to pay for purchases such as “furniture, electronics, and even perishables in monthly instalments.”

Customers have to part with a monthly interest of around 2.3 percent on credit extended to them in Carrefour, the French retailer. Lipa Later on its own will hope to build more and stronger partnerships with worldwide merchants to fulfill its plan of reaching out to more regions across the continent.

Ruby Nimkar, a partner at Nigerian investment company, GreenHouse Capital summed the CV of Lipa Later when he said: 

“Lipa Later in not only changing the consumer credit landscape across Africa, which to date has been largely inaccessible for most, but also catalysing the future of shopping, e-commerce, and payments. They’ve done this in a genuine product and customer-led way that benefits both merchants and consumers and has proven to be incredibly scalable across multiple markets.”

Lip later with its trademarked credit scoring and ML system will offer its customers the option of signing up and getting a credit limit almost instantaneously, with the startup also developing BNPL API that incorporates into e-commerce platforms. This would help in the elevation of merchants’ efforts by directly selling their products, and by default simplifying the process for customers to remit monthly instalments for any bought item.