PayHippo, an artificial intelligence-driven fintech platform that provides loans to small businesses, has raised US$ 1 million in a pre-Seed funding round led by Ventures Platform on 2 July 2021.

Investors: The pre-Seed investment round featured Ventures Platform as the lead investor. Other investors backing the firm are Hustle Fund, Mercy Corps Ventures and many more.

Purpose of the funding: The startup plans to use the fund to expand its reach to more Nigerian cities and build its engineers’ team to match the business’ current growth rate.

About PayHippo

PayHippo Logo

Established by Zach Bijesse, Chioma Okotcha, and Uche Nnadii in 2020, PayHippo envisages catering to the 40 million small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa deprived of funds essential to expand. The SME’s sector in the Nigerian market is highly underserved by banks. Many enterprises face a challenge to raise funds which hinders their growth capabilities. PayHippo seeks to administer technology to draw client averages and assess cash flows to supply a loan within a certain radius. The firm derives sufficient information from its consumers to comprehend their business model and offer aid according to their requirements. PayHippo has paid out around 1.44 billion Nigerian nairas in roughly 2,600 loans to small and medium enterprises, most of which are community supermarkets or small retail stores. The company declares to have registered a 97% repayment rate.  Moreover, it claims to earn 25% M-o-M revenue growth currently.

What the Founder has to say: “As a fintech startup, the element of technology we create is vital, as it is the main component that enables us to verify the creditworthiness of an SME and how much loan must be availed to an enterprise. The technological aspect executes these calculations in the backend, conducts the underwriting, assesses who the client is, and allows us to provide a loan within a safe radius.”- Chioma Okotcha, Co-founder of PayHippo. 

What the Investors have to say: “Small enterprises and startups are the fundamental drivers of Africa’s economic growth, and we feel happy to join hands with Zach, Chioma & Uche as they lay the foundation of PayHippo. They are primarily filling the US$ 158 billion financial gap of SME’s.”- Kola Aina, General Partner at Ventures Platform.

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Sankalp majorly focuses on writing newsletters on VCBay. He is pursuing Bachelors in Economics from the University of Delhi and exhibits proficiency in content writing and research.

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