Churpy, a Kenyan fintech startup completes $1 million seed funding for pan African expansion

Churpy, a Kenyan fintech startup, has raised $1 million in seed funding to support growth into Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Unicorn Growth Capital led the seed round, with participation from Antler East Africa, Nairobi’s business angel network, and a group of Rally Cap LPs.

Churpy, founded in 2020 by John Kiptum and Kennedy Mukuna, is a fintech that provides a B2B integrated receivables management product. Account reconciliation, connectivity with multiple bank APIs, and an invoice payment marketplace are all supported, as are direct debits, cards, MoMo, and bank rails.

Through its API, the startup collaborates with some of the region’s largest banks, including Citibank, Sidian, Stanbic, and NCBA, to provide businesses using its SaaS product with real-time statements and transaction data that can be used to reconcile pending invoices from enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs), which are used to track daily company activities such as accounting and supply chain operations.

The startup recently received $15 million from Trade Development Bank to lend to SMEs via its banking partners.

According to John Kiptum, co-founder and CEO of Churpy, “we are hiring more people as we plan to enter Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa, which are the hubs into their [respective] regions.” We are also investing in product development as we plan to expand our offering.”

“There is a significant funding gap for SMEs.” They are these large companies’ suppliers, and they require capital to continue supplying raw materials to their other customers.

“It is clear that B2B payment operations are significantly under-penetrated and ripe for modernization and disruption globally,” Unicorn Growth Capital founding partner and CEO Barbara Iyayi said.

“We are thrilled to be working with the Churpy team as the market’s first movers and shakers.” Churpy is the only end-to-end platform available that offers accounts receivable automation, an invoice marketplace, and reconciliation, as well as integrated B2B payments tailored to its markets. They are well-positioned to be an important partner for African businesses and lenders, and they can effectively address the significant credit gap faced by SMEs for supplier finance and working capital.