Although the firm was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, it was able to raise more money in fundraising
Kenyan smart addressing startup launches in Nigeria. Source: pexels.com
OkHi is set to expand in Nigeria, AfricanBusiness reports. The Kenyan-based startup recently closed a $1.5m fundraising deal which will enable the expansion.
The fundraising was led by Interswitch, a payment-0processing firm based in Lagos. OkHi will partner with Interswitch on the Nigerian launch. Other partners include Betatron venture capitalists and Founders Factory Africa.
The firm will address the lack of Africa’s postal addressing infrastructure which undermined the efficiency of the e-commerce sector in the continent. The lack of postal addressing infrastructure also limits financial inclusion.
OkHi collects property photographs and GPS location data to build accurate customer addresses. So far, the firm has collected over 300,000 in Kenya and views Nigeria as a potential growth market. The company then connects people with verified and accurate addresses with businesses. However, the process can be frustrating as most buildings are not named or numbered.
In Nigeria, the lack of formal addresses is frustrating for banking service providers. This is due to the strict regulations stipulated by the Nigerian government mandating the companies to send physical agents to customers who are hard to find.
To help financial service providers, OkHi technology has created a remote address verification solution. This combines a customer’s location and delivery history data from their phone.
We’ve reported that WorldRemit has unveiled a service for Nigerian customers allowing them to receive cross-border transfers in USD to their bank accounts in time for Christmas.
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