Bitbond, BitPesa Partner For African SME Finance

Two FinTechs are joining forces to help SMEs across Africa access finance.

Reports Tuesday (March 28) said Germany-based Bitbond, an alternative finance platform that uses blockchain to facilitate lending, and BitPesa, based in Africa, are partnering up to help SMEs across Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania find financing.

Through their collaboration, Bitbond will help small business owners find a loan, with the funds landing in SME bank accounts via the BitPesa platform and received in their local currency.

“Ten percent of our global user base comes from sub-Saharan Africa,” said BitBond founder and CEO Radoslav Albrecht in a statement. “We are excited to work with BitPesa in this region because there is a huge unmet demand for small business financing. Together with BitPesa, we can significantly improve our service.”

“This means that a small business owner from Kenya can receive loan funding from investors all over the world via Bitbond and have the funds paid out to their mobile money account in 20 minutes,” he continued. “This is an unprecedented level of innovation and convenience in the entire online lending space.”

“We are always excited to partner with companies that make doing business in Africa easier and more efficient,” said BitPesa founder and CEO Elizabeth Rossiello in another statement. “Our customers are businesses looking to grow across the continent and beyond. Better access to efficient financing is a tremendous way to boost their growth.”