Kenyan loan service Lipa Later is among 8 later-stage global start-ups that have been selected to to participate in the 2019 Mastercard Start Path program. The Kenyan start-up is one of 8 startups in this year’s cohort and is the only start-up from Africa.
The Start Path program is a start-up engagement platform provides curated access to Mastercard’s global ecosystem of partners and channels and a gateway to operational support, technology expertise and opportunity to secure strategic investment.
The initiative was started in 2014 and works with later-stage startups with a key focus on those in fintech and commerce. The program which takes place over a period of 6 months, offers operational support and technological expertise to address fintech needs and collaborate on solutions aimed at solving major challenges in payments, technology and financial inclusion.
“When corporates and start-ups work together, we seed innovation that ultimately leads to the delivery of real solutions and successes,” said Amy Neale, Vice President and global lead for Mastercard Start Path. “At Mastercard, we scour the globe for cutting-edge startups like LipaLater that are ready to scale and shape the future of commerce.”
Launched in 2016, Lipa Later provides loans that allows consumers unlimited access to products and services as they pay for them over time. It is designed to meet customer needs through the use of technology and innovation and its wide partnership network in East Africa. Through Lipa Later, customers are able to buy products on loan that include; electronics, mobile phones, furniture, and lighting solutions. They have partnered with companies such as Tecno, Huawei, Salute iWorld, Simba Telecom, Lighting Solutions, Hotpoint, Oppo, Jumia, Samsung and Victoria Courts.
The 8 2019 Mastercard Start Path program startups are:
- Lipa Later is a payment option that allows consumers unlimited access to products and services as they pay for them over time.
- 4ToldFintech enables financial institutions and merchants to create and manage profitable consumer and SME lending products with a smart digital lending platform in order to scale financial inclusion.
- Idwall develops integrated and intelligent solutions for digital onboarding and identity validation to help companies be safer and compliant with regulatory issues.
- Leal is a leading provider of data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions serving B2C companies in Latin America.
- NopSec provides machine learning-based threat prediction and cyber risk remediation solutions to help businesses prioritize security threats and reduce cyber risks.
- Warply is a native mobile keyboard that leverages on-device natural language understanding (NLU) to deliver personalized financial and retail checkout services in every context.
- Previse gets B2B sellers paid, instantly. It pays the invoices received by a large corporate, on their behalf, the moment they are received, at its risk, and with third party capital. Machine learning makes it possible.
- TAIGER helps organizations optimize operational efficiencies by automating complex cognitive tasks through AI.