Tanda Secures Seed Funding To Expand Regionally

Kenyan agency banking startup, Tanda, is expanding its operations regionally after recently closing a funding round.

This expansion drive comes after Tanda secured backing in February 2021 from HAVAÍC, Zedcrest Capital, DFS Lab, Victor Asemota, and 3 more investors.

Tanda has also secured key strategic partnerships with Mastercard & Interswitch which will further accelerate this growth. The growth comes on the back of successfully pioneering and proving the viability of the interoperable agent and merchant model in Kenya, a model that has only been validated in West Africa prior to Tanda.

“Our team will continue to run aggressive agent and customer acquisition drives across the region while securing more strategic partnerships in these new markets to further support Tanda’s growth and strategy as we pursue our goal of digitising payments across Africa. Tanda is excited to be at the forefront of the rapid shift towards innovative digital-first solutions, especially in markets that are ripe for disruption,” said Geoffrey Mulei, chief executive officer at Tanda.

Today Tanda’s platform and network support 58 banks and SACCOs, 4 telecoms, 18 billers, 12,000 merchants and agents, and has served over 300,000 unique customers, all of which have processed millions of transactions to date. Tanda has now set its sights on growing its Kenyan footprint to 100,000 agents and merchants and an expansion to Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda within the next 24 months.

“We see Tanda at the forefront of the race to digitize the last mile of the African economy by providing a dense network of agents who can be the bridge between online and offline commerce,” said Jake Kendall, Partner at DFS Lab, an investor in Tanda.