Tanda, a Kenyan agency banking startup, is expanding its operations across East Africa after obtaining funding from HAVAC, Zedcrest Finance, DFS Lab, Victor Asemota, and three other investors last month.
The startup has also forged strategic alliances with Mastercard and Interswitch, which will help it accelerate its expansion.
The expansion is the result of Tanda successfully pioneering and proving the feasibility of the interoperable agent and merchant model in Kenya, a model that had previously only been validated in West Africa.
“Our team will continue to run aggressive agent and customer acquisition drives across the country, while securing further strategic alliances in these new markets to further support Tanda’s growth and strategy as we pursue our aim of digitising payments across Africa,” says Geoffrey Mulei, CEO of Tanda. Tanda is ecstatic to be at the vanguard of the rapid change to creative digital-first solutions, especially in markets ripe for disruption.”
Tanda’s platform and network currently support 58 banks and savings and loan societies, four telecommunications firms, 18 billers, 12,000 retailers and agents, and has supported over 300,000 unique customers who have processed millions of transactions.
Over the next 24 months, the agency banking startup plans to increase its Kenyan footprint to 100,000 agents and merchants, as well as expand to Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda.