ImaliPay is a one-stop embedded financial services platform for gig economy workers across Africa. It began with a BNPL fuel product for two-wheeler drivers and expanded into services including spare parts, smartphones, power banks, savings, investments, and health and income-protection insurance. The company connects to partners via APIs and also offers services through an app, chatbot and USSD, building a partner ecosystem of gig platforms and vendors. In 15 months its user base grew 60x to the tens of thousands, with services available through about 4,500 vendor points and over 200,000 transactions; revenues come from transaction and referral fees. ImaliPay was launched in late 2020 by Tatenda Furusa and Oluwasanmi Akinmusire, who previously worked at Cellulant. After prior pre-seed support and a $800,000 pre-seed in 2020, it closed a $3M seed in debt and equity to scale the team, boost technology and expand into new markets such as Ghana and Egypt. ImaliPay is an embedded finance platform founded in 2020 by Tatenda Furusa and Sanmi Akinmusire that targets financial inclusion for African gig workers. The company uses AI and Big Data to design tailored products—loans, cash advances, savings accounts and credit‑building tools—integrated with gig platforms. It offers in‑kind loans and a buy‑now‑pay‑later model tied to a worker’s trade; for example, Bolt drivers in Kenya can request fuel loans repaid after three to four days. ImaliPay aims to build an ecosystem that creates a safety net for gig workers through easy savings and transparent in‑kind financing to drive productivity and economic empowerment. The startup plans to expand its product offering and grow its presence in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Recently it secured an undisclosed pre‑seed funding round to support that expansion.

Total raised

$3M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Apr 2022