Kenya’s Lipa Later raises $12m to expand its consumer credit platform across Africa

Lipa Later, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) startup operating in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Nigeria, has acquired $12 million in investment funding to expand its operations across Africa.

The investment round saw companies like Cauris Finance, Lateral Frontiers VC, GreenHouse Capital, SOSV IV LLC, Sayani Investments, and Axian Financial Services all participating in the fundraising.

Lipa Later will use the funding, which is a mix of equity and debt, to expand within its current countries, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, as well as into new markets including Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania.

It will also enable Lipa Later to provide its Buy-Now-Pay-Later services to its large pipeline of customers who support Lipa’s unique agreements with top-tier merchants in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Lipa Later is a lending marketplace for high-end items for individuals. It offers excellent credit conditions to consumers via a seamless digital platform at the point of sale or online, with the option to redeem the items in store.

Building a reputation for quality

Lipa Later which was founded in 2016 but launched in Kenya in 2018, has earned a reputation for providing value to its investors since its inception.

According to the company, its proprietary one-of-a-kind credit score and machine learning engine allow customers to sign up and receive a credit limit in seconds, without the need for voluminous documents or a lengthy credit approval procedure.

Lipa Later has tapped into Africa’s rapidly growing online presence and built a unique Buy Now, Pay Later option.

The company’s API integrates into e-commerce platforms, allowing merchants to sell products directly to consumers and pay for them in affordable monthly instalments, in addition to the traditional offline method of buyers purchasing items in stores.

Carrefour, Apple, Tecno, and Samsung, to name a few, are among the select merchants and world-renowned brands represented at Lipa Later.

“Over the last few years, we have watched Eric Muli, CEO of Lipa Later, and his team put together the building blocks for Pan-African expansion, and this round of funding takes Lipa Later one step closer to being the dominant Buy-Now-Pay-Later player on the Continent, “

Samakab Hashi, Partner at Lateral Frontier VC, one of Lipa Later’s first investors

Also speaking on the funding, Azer Songnaba, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Cauris, acknowledges that his organization is thrilled to be supporting Lipa Later and its unique skills in increasing consumer credit in the region.

“Lipa Later is not only transforming the consumer credit market across Africa, which has been mostly unavailable for most, but also igniting the future of shopping, e-commerce, and payments. They’ve done this in a truly product and customer-led way that benefits both merchants and consumers and has proven to be incredibly scalable across multiple markets, said Ruby Nimkar, Partner at GreenHouse Capital.

Co-founder and CEO of Lipa Later, Eric Muli, appreciates his new investors for taking this bold step with the company even as they look forward to expanding to more markets in Africa.

“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. ” 

Co-founder and CEO of Lipa Later, Eric Muli