Lipa Later, a Kenyan Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) startup, has closed a $12 million in pre-Series A funding in equity and debt funding round. The funding round saw the participation of Cauris Finance, Lateral Frontiers VC, GreenHouse Capital, SOSV IV LLC, Sayani Investments and Axian Financial Services.
Founded in 2018 by Eric Muli and Michael Maina, LipaLater is a lending marketplace that provides postpaid payments at e-commerce stores.
The new funding adds to an undisclosed investment in 2020 by Tokyo-headquartered Uncovered Fund. The buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) company is now planning to enter Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria, and expand in its existing markets, which are Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
“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,” said Lipa Later co-founder and CEO Eric Muli.
“Lipa Later is not only changing the consumer credit landscape across Africa, which to date has been largely inaccessible for most but also catalyzing 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 GreenHouse Capital partner Ruby Nimkar.
