Pariti, a Kenya-based community focused marketplace for digital infrastructure has raised Ksh. 321 million (USD 2.85 million) seed funding.
The seed round was led by U.S based Harlem Capital. Other investors are Better Ventures, Accelerated Ventures, Diverse Angels, AVG Basecamp and New General Market Partners.
Pariti was founded by Yacob Berhane and Wossen Ayele in 2019. It has over 880 companies across 42 countries on its platform, up from 500 early this year.
This past year, CEO Berhane said the company has grown 795% and attributed this growth to the pandemic and how the African tech ecosystem has hit an inflection point, minting half a dozen unicorns within this period. Pariti’s principal product is the recommendation engine, where founders submit their companies for review and feedback from experts on the platform. The engine then suggests personalized next steps for the founders to take in areas where the company needs help.
The Kenya-based marketplace also helps talent monetize their skills and VCs and angels to find, vet and execute deals.
Commenting on Harlem’s investment, Pariti co-founder and CEO Yacob Berhane said, “We’re thrilled to be working with Harlem Capital. Their focus on data, process and supporting underserved ecosystems aligns perfectly with our mission and makes them an amazing partner for us to build with. The pandemic was a Black Swan event because we saw a major jump in activity on our platform. Remote staffing and remote investing accelerated tremendously. This was a bet we made a while back but obviously could not anticipate what was coming.”
With some founders needing support more than ever after in an inefficient ecosystem with trust issues, Pariti is critical for founders and investors to negotiate on neutral terrain.
The newly secured Pariti seed funding will allow it to build SaaS workflows to aggregate multiple forms of raising capital, from traditional equity and debt to DeFi solutions.
The company also plans to enhance its talent marketplace, create a tailor made solution for investors looking to invest and support founders, hire talent, build bigger communities and expand into new markets.