![]() With the latter, Float wants small businesses to use its platform to tap into their revenues instantly instead of using gateways, which take days to settle. The company has also introduced some more features recently: revenue advances and instant payouts. Other features on the platform include invoice advance, opening a business account, payment links, managing budgets and spend cards. The company aims to serve as the “financial operating system” for Africa’s small and medium businesses. In addition to flexible credit lines for businesses to cover cash flow gaps, Float also has software tools for businesses to manage accounts and wallets in one dashboard, as well as automate bills, vendor or supplier payments and invoice collections. Float provides credit to some of these businesses that find it challenging to get from traditional banks. It’s an identical problem for more than 51% of 44 million formal SMBs in sub-Saharan Africa who say they need more finance than they can access to grow their businesses, per research. That threw me into solving those problems with Float.” ![]() “I also remember taking money from loan sharks with ridiculous interest rates, sometimes as high as 20% a month, to meet payroll. But the bank wanted us to deposit 100% collateral in cash before they could give the overdraft,” the two-time YC founder told TechCrunch in a June interview. “We needed credit and proceeded to get an overdraft from a long-term partner bank where we had transacted more than $100,000. The idea for the YC-backed Ghanaian fintech came during the chief executive’s time at OMG Digital, a media company he founded that also got into YC, in 2016. Other VC firms involved in the equity round include Kinfolk, Soma Capital, Ingressive Capital and Magic Fund.Ī couple of angel investors also took part: Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel, Sandy Kory of Horizon Partners, Ramp founders Karim Atiyeh and Eric Glyman, Gregory Rockson of mPharma and Dutchie founders Zach Lipson and Ross Lipson.ĬEO Jesse Ghansah started the company, formerly known as Swipe, with Barima Effah in 2020, and following its rebrand as Float, went live with its product in June 2021. While Cauris provided debt financing, Tiger Global and JAM Fund, the investment firm of Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen co-led the equity bit. The seed round was a mix of $7 million equity and $10 million debt. The fintech which provides credit lines for businesses has raised $17 million, funding that it will be using to bolster its offerings and expand geographically. Many startups are solving these problems for African SMBs in one form or another, and the demand for their services has seen Ghanaian startup Float pick up a significant round of funding. ![]() Long payment cycles, which can take 30-90 days after services or products have been rendered, and little or no capital, of which research says 85% of African small and medium businesses are subject to, are the main culprits of cash flow issues. Cash flow is a major pain point for small businesses in Africa.
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