Untapped Global, a revenue-based asset finance platform, has successfully raised US$3 million in seed funding led by E3 Capital.
With this investment from E3 Capital, Untapped Global has now raised more than US$14 million in debt and equity from early-stage venture and angel investors. Through their alliance, E3 Capital and Untapped hope to hasten the adoption of climate-smart technologies like e-mobility on the continent.
The first investment from its recently closed E3 Low Carbon Economy Fund (E3 LCEF I), E3 Capital’s pledge will help Untapped launch its real-time data platform for financing climate-smart solutions. In order to increase incomes and create community wealth, microentrepreneurs and small businesses in emerging markets use productive assets that are tracked and repaid digitally by Untapped’s data platform. This platform also aids in raising awareness of the economic and environmental advantages of adopting climate-friendly technologies. By reducing perceived risk through increased transparency and digital collections, Untapped’s platform encourages investment in Africa.
Jim Chu, the founder and CEO of Untapped Global, stated: “Africa is digitizing at lightning speeds. This creates an unprecedented opportunity to reinvent how small businesses access capital. Using data and digital payments, we can make investing in Africa more transparent and secure with measurable impact for private investors worldwide.”
The Untapped data platform, which has been in development since the company’s founding in 2021, has been crucial to scaling its investments throughout Africa. Untapped has successfully financed over 14,000 microentrepreneurs through its pilot programs spanning thirty-two enterprises in twelve countries, with notable returns for its investors. Untapped will be able to scale its data platform and increase its portfolio of climate-smart assets, such as electric cars, thanks to the cooperation with E3 Capital. To hasten the uptake of e-mobility across the continent, E3 Capital and Untapped want to collaborate closely.
Vladimir Dugin, Senior Partner at E3 Capital, said: “Access to funding remains the most significant bottleneck for early-stage companies in Africa. We are thrilled to back Untapped Global in its journey to build a comprehensive data-driven financing platform for climate-smart SMEs in Africa. Our long-term partnership will bring more smart capital to the continent and expand the reach of climate-friendly solutions across major African markets.”
Untapped plans to invest more than $200 million in tech-enabled African businesses and SMEs looking for alternative finance for their scale-up deployments of assets for productive usage over the next two years.
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