The Venture Codex

Participated · Series A · Apr 2022

ZirooPay builds EMV-certified mobile POS hardware and an Android application that lets small businesses process card payments and manage sales and bookkeeping. Its differentiator is a patented offline-first technology that processes transactions in real time without an internet connection, delivering about a 95% transaction success rate versus under 50% in the market. The platform targets retail, agency banking, hospitality and services merchants and has driven migration from paper accounting—over 70% of users adopt in-app sales accounting within three months. ZirooPay reports more than 15,000 merchants on its platform who have processed roughly $500 million across 10 million transactions. The company plans to use new funding to expand its payment infrastructure, broaden its product suite, add additional payment channels and build an omnichannel system for merchants while accelerating growth and growing the team. ZirooPay is Lagos- and Helsinki-based. IroFit is a Helsinki‑based Finnish startup offering a mobile app and EMV‑certified card reader that lets small businesses accept card payments. Its distinguishing feature is an "internet‑free" technology that transmits encrypted card transaction data over basic GSM channels (USSD/SMS) to enable real‑time processing without data connectivity. The company has filed a U.S. patent for this proprietary transmission method. The hardware supports Chip‑and‑PIN and NFC, and the platform includes business management tools such as sales analytics, accounting, inventory management, CRM, loyalty management, and payroll support. Initial testing in Nigeria showed the solution delivered greater than 95% connection success rates versus less than 50% aggregate for the country. While the mPOS is the first product, the platform is designed to also handle wallet applications, cryptocurrencies, in‑app payments, and microlending for small businesses.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2022

Spleet operates a platform that lists landlord properties and offers subscription-based rent-management services and a rent-financing product to enable flexible payment schedules. Its flagship BNPL product, Rent Now, Pay Later, offers no-collateral loans up to ₦3 million (about $6,000) at roughly 3.5% monthly interest and was beta-tested with a one-month down payment and the company financing the remaining 11 months. The company has also launched Collect, which automatically receives rent on landlords' behalf, and Verify, a tenant background-check tool. Since launch Spleet has processed over $3.5 million in rent, onboarded more than 35 individual and corporate landlords, recorded over 1,000 housed tenants and logged over 68,000 unfulfilled requests; average customer lifetime is 26 months. During Rent Now beta the nonperforming loans ratio was 1.2%. The company plans to scale its residential rent management and financing products and to test new markets early next year, and it intends to build a rent-data repository to help customers access other financial services. Spleet is a Nigerian prop-tech startup focused on building financial services solutions for landlords and tenants across Africa. The company plans features including tenant vetting, payment automation for landlords, and a rent-now-pay-later option for tenants. CEO Tola Adesanmi acknowledged Spleet’s initial housing marketplace did not address affordability and said the rent-now-pay-later product would help plug that gap. The firm’s stated mission is to make housing easier in Africa, though its current solution is targeted at the premium end of the market. The article does not disclose operating metrics such as revenue or user counts. Spleet announced a $625k pre-seed raise led by MetaProp VC.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2021

Bitmama operates a crypto exchange and a social payment product called Changera that issues virtual crypto debit cards funded with stablecoins for remittances and international online purchases. The company began as a WhatsApp group and expanded into formal crypto services including buying, selling, swapping and peer-to-peer transactions. Changera targets non-crypto‑savvy users with simple UI and supports virtual dollar cards with >$10,000 monthly spending limits for online transactions. Bitmama reports user growth from under 20,000 earlier this year to more than 70,000 across its platforms; revenues come from transaction margins. The team is distributed across Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya and the company is U.S.- and Nigeria-based. Future plans include a B2B API offering to let businesses embed crypto services and broader market expansion across Africa. Bitmama operates a crypto exchange and a cross-border payments product, Changera, which lets users buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Celo and six others) and send/receive money internationally, buy airtime, and pay utility bills. The company was founded in 2019 and is based in Delaware and Neuss, Germany. Bitmama has recorded more than $6 million in transaction volume this year and reports over 15,000 users across its two offerings; the team has grown to more than 20 members. The company says its users are active monthly, though the founder would not confirm profitability at this stage. Future plans include expanding current products into other African markets (including Francophone countries and Kenya) and Europe, launching Changera for businesses, opening its wallet API free to developers, and supporting the ecosystem via hackathons. Bitmama has been hiring in engineering and marketing to accelerate product development and feature expansion rather than adding new product lines.

Led · Seed · Aug 2021

Showlove is a Nigerian social platform for gifting that enables users to request, share, and receive gifts and cash backed by a digital wallet. Founded in 2020 by Chikodi Ukaiwe, Joshua Biyere, and Seye Bandele, the company launched a public beta in December 2020 and has since gone live with a full product. Core features include a Wishlist that aggregates items from across the internet, integrations with thousands of vendors and SMEs via APIs, electronic gift vouchers, and zero-cost peer-to-peer cash transfers. The platform also helps businesses promote services and deals to earn additional revenue. Showlove emphasizes preserving the gifting experience and strengthening relationships across Africa through contextual gift exchange. The company has raised external capital to support product expansion and merchant integrations.