Nigerian fintech startup Payhippo secures $3-million

Lagos based tech startup Payhippo has secured a reported $3-million in seed funding from several funders including; Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, co-founders Chipper Cash, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, founder Flutterwave, Bolaji Balogun, CEO Chapel Hill Denham, and Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Founder Metis Capital Partners.

Other angel investors include management from Paystack, Brex, and Tala and several LPs from Payhippo’s preseed investors. Institutional investors include TEN13, VentureSouq, and Prodigio Capital.

Payhippo has secured $3-million in seed funding

According to reports, the funding will be used to improve and grow the tech startup’s technological capabilities and facilities to support small businesses in Nigeria.

Chioma Okotcha, Co-founder and COO, Payhippo provides insight into how the funding will be used.

“The funding will allow us to invest in hiring more engineers and data scientists. We aim to improve our technology and enhance our lending offerings as we continue to address the persistent financing gap for small businesses in Nigeria. At Payhippo, our vision is to provide millions of small businesses with sufficient and available capital to run and grow their businesses.”

Payhippo

Based in Lagos, Payhippo was founded in August 2019 by entrepreneurial trio Zach Bijesse, CEO, Chioma Okotcha, COO, and Uche Nnadi, CTO.

The fintech startups main aim is to provide tangible and innovative financial solutions to small businesses in Nigeria. Payhippo reportedly provides small businesses access to credit in “less than three hours” providing a much-needed financial crutch to many business owners. With this workable and easy to access credit, small businesses can implore mechanisms to help grow their business.

The fintech startup claims to have distributed 5000 loans to small businesses across Nigeria since its inception.

Payhippo believes that small businesses are integral to the economic growth of a country, contributing to overall GDP and providing individuals with much-needed job opportunities. Within Nigeria, traditional lenders require collateral, something which many small business owners are not able to provide as it is too high and it can take up to three months for the funds to reflect.

Bolaji Balogun, Founder and CEO of Chapel Hill Denham explains that they are elated to support Payhippo.

“We’re excited at how Payhippo is using technology to provide SMEs in Africa with access to finance required to run their business needs. By lending to small businesses, Payhippo is allowing business owners access much-needed working capital to grow their businesses and create much-needed jobs in the economy.”

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Featured image: Founders of Payhippo (Supplied)