Asilimia, a digital financial infrastructure company, has secured Ksh. 224.6 million (USD 2 million) to scale its team, deliver new services and expand into new markets.
The startup raised Ksh. 112 million (USD 1 million) in pre-seed funding from various investors including two time unicorn founder, Fredrik Jung Abbou who is also a co-founder of Kry and Lendo and the Norrsken Impact Accelerator. The company also raised Ksh. 112 million (USD 1 million) in a debt round that included Bpifrance and GreenTec Capital Partners.
The pre-seed funding will support team growth and expansion in East Africa. The debt funding will enable Asilimia to extend credit to MSMEs, providing needed financing to scale their businesses.
Despite contributing about 38% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP, lack of consolidated data means MSMEs are considered as high risk, leaving them locked out by traditional financial institutions.
Tekwane Mwendwa and French entrepreneur Morgane Kablan founded Asilimia to build the first financial infrastructure of the informal economy in Africa. The startup was incubated in the Station F programme in Paris and it has been through the Norrsken Impact Accelerator programme.
Asilimia has built an affordable and easy to use digital platform that formalises payments, revenue collection and accounting for business owners. This makes it easier to monitor their business activities in one place. Using their mobile phones, business owners can record their expenses and sales, track pending payments and gain financial insights through a simple dashboard that is more efficient than using pen and paper. They can also connect their personal mobile money accounts and save up to 90% on transaction fees.
Speaking on the secured funding, Tekwane Mwendwa, CEO and co-founder of Asilimia said, “Africa’s informal businesses are the backbone of its economy and we want to unlock their GDP to drive further growth and development across the continent. Our focus over the last few years has been to build a solution that works and this new funding will enable us to take it into new markets and impact the lives and livelihoods of more business owners.”
Funda Sezgi, co-founder and Managing Director at Norrsken Impact Accelerator commented, “MSMEs play a vital role across Africa and making it easier for them to succeed is great for the continent as a whole. Tekwane and the team have built a solution that works and we are delighted to be supporting them as they drive prosperity in a key sector for the African economy.”