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Kenya headquartered fintech company FinAccess, has received a US$500,000 investment from South African venture capital (VC) firm HAVAÍC, to bolster its financial inclusion drive and unlocking financial services for many unbanked East Africans through its technology platform.
FinAccess provides software solutions that digitise community banks or SACCOs (Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations) and farming co-operatives (“co-ops”) in the region.
The funding was allocated from the from the VC firm’s US$20 million HAVAÍC Universum Core African Fund, which closed in May 2022.
It is part of a pre-series A funding round to expand the company’s two core products, banking software solution Fincore and agricultural software solution Grobox, a statement said.
With the support of HAVAÍC in partnership with other investors, FinAccess will cement its market position in Kenya and expand into other markets. Live pilots are already underway in Uganda, with Zambia, Rwanda, and Tanzania launching in the coming months, the statement added.
“FinAccess is solving critical problems for Africa’s underserved communities. The team’s growth and ability to perform over the last few years has been incredible to watch, and there is so much scope to continue growing across Kenya and beyond,” said Rob Heath, Partner at HAVAÍC and Director at FinAccess.
Currently, the agriculture sector employs 65% of Africa’s population, yet only 1% of bank lending goes to agriculture, and the day-to-day operations of well-established SACCOs remain outdated and inefficient.
FinCore digitises and automates the entire financial back office and product functions. The software solution significantly improves efficiency, transparency, reliability, and distribution by enabling SACCO members to access financial services and perform digital transactions via a mobile app or USSD interface.
Co-ops contribute to over 70% of all agricultural output in East Africa and face the same inefficiencies from outdated, manual systems.
Grobox is an operations management software solution that tracks and records inventory, production, sales, payments, and finance data. The software opens the door to partnerships with financial institutions and subsequent access to essential services like embedded working capital for small-scale farmers.
“Financial inclusion for underserved Africans is at the heart of our business,” said FinAccess Founder and CEO Barclay Paul Okari. “Digitisation ultimately releases credit and other vital financial services so farmers can increase productivity and efficiency. We are very excited to partner with HAVAÍC and bring our software solutions to more African communities.”
The announcement follows HAVAÍC’s recent investments in ShopEx and Talk360, joining the VC’s thriving portfolio of 18 early-stage, high-potential African technology companies.
HAVAÍC’s portfolio companies now serve a combined 5 million customers in over 180 countries across the globe. In 2021, the portfolio raised US$110 million in fresh capital and increased revenue by 160%.
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