The buy-now-pay-later(BNPL) startup, CredPal, has recently announced closing a debt financing and bridge round amounting to $15M. This funding will help expand its consumer credit offerings in Nigeria, further scaling across Africa as well.
The investment saw the participation of new investors including Uncovered Fund, First Circle Capital, LongCommerce and Adrii Pienaar, co-founder and former CEO of WooCommerce. The bridge round also saw participation from existing backers including Greenhouse Capital with a few other undisclosed investors providing the debt facility.
Adrii Pienaar expressed his faith in CredPal, “The growth of retail in emerging markets like Sub-Saharan Africa has been phenomenal, and with what CredPal is building where merchants can expand their payment options through consumer credit, I’m positive that the company will further drive e-Commerce enablement in Africa.”
Utilising the funding
CredPal intends to use the funding to extend its partnerships with merchants leveraging its recently deployed CredPal Pay, an omnichannel merchant suite that allows businesses of all sizes and categories, to seamlessly accept BNPL. CredPal Pay works as a point-of-sale infrastructure that enables BNPL through various means including a credit payment link, checkout plugin, QR codes, and a transaction management system. This suite of offerings is redefining the point-of-sale experience for online and offline merchants as well as consumers.
The funding also coincides with a new partnership announcement with Airtel Nigeria aimed at fostering digital inclusion for low and middle-income earners with BNPL.
CredPal’s expansion across Africa, starting with Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, and Cameroon will also be supported by this new funding.
Growing BNPL in Africa
Africa presents a large growth opportunity for buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service providers. With increasing digitisation and smartphone penetration across the region, customers are searching for new innovative solutions to make purchases conveniently, with alternative financing options.
Experts estimate that the value of the BNPL market in Africa is expected to reach $7.18B, this year. Consumers are increasingly adopting BNPL and are pushing banks and other traditional payments providers to offer these services. Vendors are as well embracing BNPL to attract new customers and enhance their sales.
Addressing the need for consumer credit
CredPal was founded in 2018 by friends Fehintolu Olaogun and Olorunfemi Jegede and is based in Lagos, Nigeria. The company was established with the aim of addressing the lack of consumer credit options on the continent.
CredPal has been able to attract over 3000 merchants and 120,000 active consumers, an incredible achievement in a largely cash-first market. The company hopes that its tech efforts to build a credit infrastructure will fill gaps in the continent’s consumer credit systems.
“We are delighted to have the support of our investors and partners as we complete this fundraising. Our commitment to better credit facilities for African consumers and helping sellers grow their sales is getting a huge boost with these latest milestones,” commented Fehintolu Olaogun, CredPal’s CEO and co-founder.
