Nigerian Lending Startup Payhippo Raises $3 Million in Seed Funding

Nigeria’s lender targeting small and medium businesses Payhippo has raised $3 million in seed funding. The round was led by Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, co-founders Chipper Cash, Olugbenga Agboola, founder Flutterwave, Bolaji Balogun, CEO Chapel Hill Denham, and Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Founder Metis Capital Partners.

Chioma Okotcha, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Payhippo said the funding will allow the Company to “invest in hiring more engineers and data scientists to improve our technology and enhance our lending offerings”.

Access to loans is still a major challenge for small businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa countries forcing many to die before their third anniversary.

Ham Serunjogi, CoFounder and CEO of Chipper Cash, said “New financial technologies are being developed and implemented changing the competitive landscape in the financial sector in Africa. Access to credit is a critical necessity for small businesses to manage their daily challenges. Payhippo helps address this need through its innovative approach that provides loans to small businesses in less than three hours enabling them to have access to sufficient working capital to grow.”

Bolaji Balogun, Founder and CEO of Chapel Hill Denham said, “By lending to small businesses, Payhippo is allowing business owners access much-needed working capital to grow their businesses and create much-needed jobs in the economy.”

Payhippo says it has so far disbursed 5000 loans to small businesses across Nigeria. There are 40 million small businesses, which account for 96 percent of companies, 84 percent of employment, and 48 percent of the Country’s GDP.

In September 2021, the company reported it earned $64,000 in revenue from $900K disbursed, experiencing 25% monthly growth with a 97 percent repayment rate on loans.