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KENYAN RETAIL-TECH START-UP TANDA SECURES FUNDING FOR REGIONAL EXPANSION FROM HAVAÍC
Kenyan agency banking start-up , Tanda , is expanding its operations regionally after securing funding from early-stage African tech investor , HAVAÍC , Zedcrest Capital , DFS Lab , Victor Asemota and three other investors .
Rob Heath , Partner at HAVAÍC
Tanda has also secured key strategic partnerships with Mastercard and Interswitch which will further accelerate its growth . The company ’ s expansion 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 .
Commenting on HAVAÍC ’ s decision to invest in Tanda , Rob Heath , Partner at HAVAÍC , said : “ Tanda is solving one part of the very deep and complex problem of financial inclusion that is not only Kenyan , but a problem across all emerging and undeveloped markets . HAVAÍC believes that the wider Tanda team have the right mix of skills , technical expertise , geographic market knowledge and real-world experience to understand the challenges facing those left behind in the financial ecosystem .”
Today Tanda ’ s platform and network supports 58 banks and saccos , four 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 .
Geoffrey Mulei , CEO of Tanda , said : “ 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 .
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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 .
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 .”
Heath added that Tanda ’ s founding team have a successful history of building agency networks from the ground up and a background in managing family micro-retail operations . He said : “ This knowledge was shown not in flashy presentations and buzz words , but with real growth on the ground and solid corporate partnerships where other early-stage businesses would normally struggle to get a meeting .”
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 . �
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