The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Feb 2023

Power, co-founded by Brian Dempsey and Chandra Singh in 2020, integrates with employer payroll and payment systems to offer short- and long-term loans, earned-wage access, insurance and investment options to workers. The platform performs digital ID checks, real-time credit bureau pulls and uses employer data (salary, tenure, contract type) to set loan amounts, rates and tenures, and allows HR to approve or reject requests. Power only lends to employees and contractors of onboarded companies to lower default risk and deducts repayments at source before wages hit users' accounts. It charges long-term loans at roughly 2–3% interest per month and has disbursed more than $1.5 million in loans since launch. The startup has onboarded 75 companies, giving access to more than 40,000 workers and has served about 15% of that base so far. Power plans to reach 250 companies in Kenya and expand to at least 10 African markets over the next three years, starting with a Zambia entry where it will act as a technology partner and has signed a deal with a southern African bank.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2022

Turaco is a Kenya-based insurtech that distributes white-labeled life, asset, medical and vehicle insurance via a B2B2C model and API integrations. It partners with PayGo firms (e.g., M-KOPA), ride-hailing platforms (SafeBoda), fintechs and microfinance institutions to bundle insurance into core products. Policies can be sold from as low as $0.2 and the company reports over half a million customers, 268,000 of whom are active, with user growth of 300% since 2020. Turaco operates in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria and says its distribution-driven approach produces conversion rates north of 50% in its partnerships. The company is in a growth phase and is pursuing more partnerships and large-brand collaborations to scale adoption. Co-founder and CEO Ted Pantone has articulated a long-term ambition to insure one billion people over 25 years and an intermediate goal of 100 million. Turaco provides affordable health and life microinsurance, with packages available for as little as R31.41 (~$2) on flexible monthly payment plans. The company is operational in Kenya and Uganda and claims to have insured over 70,000 individuals and paid nearly 2,000 claims with an average turnaround under three working days. Turaco partners with local businesses to design and distribute products and aims to expand distribution across Sub‑Saharan Africa. The startup plans to use new funding to upscale operations, develop proprietary technology, and create employment as it grows. Turaco’s leadership has articulated a long-term vision to insure a billion people over the next 25 years. Launched in 2008, Turaco offers life and health insurance products with monthly premiums as low as $2, distributed via partnerships with local companies and mobile lending organisations. The company uses a subscription model that enables consumers to opt in for automated medical policy renewals bundled with existing payments. Turaco says it has insured more than 30,000 users in Kenya and Uganda. It maintains offices in Nairobi and Atlanta and was founded by Ted Pantone and Peter Gross. Previously the startup received non-equity accelerator support of roughly $50,000–$60,000 from the Catalyst Fund and a $40,000 grant from Villgro Kenya. Turaco plans to use new funding to scale operations across Africa, cement presence in new markets, and further develop pilots and partnerships with businesses and fintech companies, targeting entry into one or two new East and West African markets next year.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2017

Founded in 2016, Shortlist offers a technology platform that unifies candidate sourcing channels into a single application flow and then screens applicants through chat-based interviews, online competency assessments, and proprietary evaluation tools. The system aims to replace pedigree-driven hiring with skill- and potential-based selection, delivering interview-ready candidates to employers. Its product is already used by more than 80 companies, including Ather Energy, M-KOPA, MicroEnsure, and Xynteo. With offices in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Nairobi, the company services clients across India and East Africa. The newly raised capital will be directed toward further enhancing its data-driven talent screening product and expanding automation in applicant vetting. By focusing on demonstrated competencies, Shortlist seeks to streamline hiring, reduce bias, and shorten time-to-hire for its customers.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2017

BitPesa operates an online digital foreign-exchange and payment platform that helps importers and exporters across Africa send and receive payments in multiple currencies. Its core technology deploys APIs to connect with a network of banks and mobile payment platforms, and in some cases routes transfers via the bitcoin blockchain so customers simply pay in one currency and receive another. The company has expanded internationally with branches in Lagos, Luxembourg, London, Madrid and Dakar and acquired Madrid’s TransferZero to establish operations in Spain. BitPesa was founded in 2013 by Amy Ludlum, Charlene Chen and Elizabeth Rossiello and is headquartered in Nairobi. The platform aims to simplify cross-border trading and payments by offering cheaper FX than conventional services. Financially, the company has disclosed cumulative funding of at least $15.64M to date and raised at least $7.23M during 2018. BitPesa is an online payments platform that leverages bitcoin/blockchain settlement to significantly lower costs and increase the speed of business payments to, from and within sub-Saharan Africa. Its clients include African businesses, multinational companies and remittance firms, and it offers API white-label services to dozens of bank networks and mobile-money operators. The company reports 25% month-on-month growth for nearly two years, which management cites as validation of its model. BitPesa has prioritized regulatory compliance and was the first bitcoin company to receive an authorized payments license in the UK from the FCA in 2015. It has expanded geographically with offices in Nairobi, Lagos, London, Luxembourg and Dakar and counts Fortune 100 companies among its customers. The firm plans to use new capital to continue expansion into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with Luxembourg as group headquarters to focus on French-speaking Europe and an office in Senegal to focus on francophone Africa. BitPesa provides bitcoin-based payment services and operates in markets including Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. The company focuses on cross-border and local payments using bitcoin rails and emphasizes a locally-based approach to infrastructure and compliance. Founder and CEO Elizabeth Rossiello leads the firm as it prioritizes customer growth and outreach in the year ahead, with Nigeria cited as its largest market. Financially, BitPesa recently closed a new funding round and previously raised $1.1M under two years ago; it also received an investment from The BitFury Group last year. The firm stresses local teams and compliance from Lagos to London as part of its growth strategy. BitPesa operates a bitcoin-based payments and trading platform that lets users buy bitcoin in one country and have recipients receive local currency in another. The service covers Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania and routes value by depositing bitcoin with BitPesa and settling in recipient local currency. The company has faced regulatory challenges, including being cut off from Safaricom's M-Pesa platform, prompting it to use alternative transfer methods. BitPesa's platform is positioned to leverage blockchain for cross-border remittances across African markets. The recent strategic investment from BitFury aims to deepen cooperation on blockchain infrastructure for the continent. The size and instrument of the investment were not disclosed in the article. BitPesa is an East African remittance platform based in Kenya that accepts bitcoin from overseas and converts it into local currency for delivery. The company targets the global remittance market, which the article cites as roughly $430 billion. BitPesa leverages bitcoin and local mobile-money ecosystems (the article highlights Kenya's widespread M-Pesa use) to bypass traditional banking rails and improve cross-border transfer efficiency. The startup is venture-backed and recently raised a $1.1 million funding round led by Pantera Capital. The article positions BitPesa as an example of crypto startups that begin with remittances before expanding into broader financial infrastructure in emerging markets. No revenue or user metrics are disclosed in the article.