Bamba, a Kenyan startup, has raised $3.2 million in seed capital to grow its user base across 12 African countries.

Bamba, a mobile-first business software for African micro-merchants, has raised $3.2 million in venture capital to help it scale its app and expand its team.

Presight Ventures, Jigsaw VC, and high-profile angels Mato Peric, Leonard Stiegeler, Laurin Hainy, and Thomas Stafford all participated in the round, which was led by venture capital firm 468 Capital.

The company is now in stealth mode and will use the fresh funds to develop its user base across 12 Sub-Saharan African nations with high mobile money penetration.

Bamba is a smartphone application that focuses on easy solutions for businesses to manage their clients, record stocks, collect payments, make payments, and access cash advances against their future cash flow. It was launched in 2022 by serial entrepreneur and investor Bastian Gotter. In Sub-Saharan Africa, micro, small, and medium-sized firms account for 90% of all businesses and provide more than half of all jobs.

Merchants, both registered and unregistered, accepted more than $250 billion in mobile money payments in 2021, indicating tremendous development. Receiving/paying out cash or mobile money adds new difficulties for retailers, but it also opens up opportunities to further digitalize business payment and record-keeping procedures.

This digitization process has the potential to greatly enhance loan access, which is one of the most major barriers to small business growth in Africa. The IFC estimates that the credit deficit for small businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa is $331 billion. Bamba’s mobile application is at the center of the digitization process, boosting micro merchants’ payment experiences as well as their access to finance.

“We sincerely believe entrepreneurship is crucial to prosperity,” Bastian Gotter, Founder & CEO of Bamba, said of the funding, “therefore we make running a small business easier by providing mobile-first small business software for Africa.” This investment allows us to scale the platform and staff, as well as gain information from our high-quality investment partners.”

“We are happy to invest and support the team and ambition at Bamba,” said Ludwig Ensthaler, Partner at 468 Capital. We believe that there is enormous investment potential in “enterprise” software aimed at small firms in Africa, which are virtually untapped. We believe Bamba is well-positioned to grow a category-defining firm, with a terrific product and a strong founder.”

“We respect entrepreneurs who offer unique solutions that push limits,” said Fabian Hansen, an investor at Presight Ventures. “We are excited to support Bamba’s potential effect across the African small company sector.”

“Bamba stands at the confluence of cash and mobile money, between payments and credit,” said Dan Jones, Partner of Jigsaw VC. We feel there is a big possibility in this market, and we are excited to work with Bastian to explore it.”

The IFC predicts a $331 billion loan deficit in Sub-Saharan Africa for small businesses.