M-KOPA, a Kenyan company that provides pay-as-you-go energy to off-grid customers, has secured $75 million in a growth equity round to extend its financial services platform for the underbanked beyond its present operations in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana.
Generation Investment Management and Broadscale Group led the growth capital round, which included new investors such as LocalGlobe’s Latitude Fund and HEPCO Capital Management. The round was also supported by existing investors CDC Group and LGT Lightrock.
Following this funding, M-total KOPA’s equity financing now stands at $190 million.
M-KOPA, founded in 2011 by Chad Larson, Jesse Moore, and Nick Hughes, provides underbanked consumers with connected lending and digital financial services.
The company has supplied $600 million in loans to an estimated 2 million customers as of this year.
“Our revolutionary strategy means we have already allowed financial empowerment for over two million individuals through micro-payments,” M-KOPA CEO and co-founder Jesse Moore said. “But there are still millions of people throughout the continent who are stuck with restricted economic options.”
“With this funding, we will grow to new markets across Africa in the coming years and scale to over 10 million users.”
The new funds will also be utilized to assist M-KOPA to expand beyond asset financing by growing other products such as health insurance, cash loans, and merchant partnerships that allow customers to buy now and pay later (BNPL).
M-KOPA will also be able to scale financial services products including health insurance, cash loans, and BNPL merchant partnerships as a result of the new funding, which will allow the company to grow its flexible daily and weekly payment model.
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