M-KOPA, has secured $75M in a new round of funding to expand the reach of its services and customer base.
The platform provides connected financing and digital financial services to underbanked consumers across five markets in Africa – Kenya, Uganda, and recently, Nigeria and Ghana.
The funding round was led by Generation Investment Management and Broadscale Group. Other participants in this round include LocalGlobe’s Latitude Fund and HEPCO Capital Management all of who are new investors in the startup. M-KOPA’s existing investors, CDC Group and LGT Lightrock were also partakers of this new funding round.
The company started with solar-power home systems targeted at lower-income and rural customers without electricity in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. However, it has expanded its model to include other needs like financial servicing and cash loans.
Having raised $75M in this round, it brings the company’s total fund raised to $190M. According to the company, M-KOPA is providing financial services to well over two million customers.
The startup was launched in 2011 by Jesse Moore to enable underbanked customers get access to a broad range of products and services without collateral or a guarantor. By combining the power of digital micropayments with the Internet-of-Things [IoT] technology the startup has unlocked over $600 million in financing.
According to Jesse, M-KOPA has recorded nearly 2.5X in the growth of new customers in 2021 with a projection to reach 3 million customers by the end of 2022.
Speaking about the round of funding, Jesse disclosed: “We’re thrilled to partner with leading global investors with deep experience supporting growth-stage companies as we expand our platform to serve more of our customers’ needs. Our innovative model means we have enabled financial empowerment for over two million people already through micro-payments, but there are still millions of people across the continent that are stuck with limited economic options. With this funding, we will expand to more markets across Africa and scale to over 10 million customers in the next few years.”
Speaking about investing in the startup, Broadscale’s Managing Partner, Andrew Shapiro, disclosed: “M-KOPA’s unique technology-enabled approach to providing essential consumer goods and financial services is an inspiring engine of empowerment perfectly aligned with our mission of Disruption for Good,”
