Flowt, a Kenyan fintech that uses AI to turn businesses’ financial records into lender-ready data, has raised a $550,000 pre-seed round from Delta40 Fund I, Impacc, and Argidius Foundation, as it seeks to expand lending to small climate-focused businesses that struggle to access bank credit.
The Nairobi-based company uses AI to analyse financial records, including bank and M-Pesa statements and accounting data, to assess small businesses’ creditworthiness. It says that many companies are locked out of traditional lending because banks lack reliable financial history.
Flowt’s funding comes as African fintechs turn to alternative data and AI to tackle the continent’s persistent SME credit gap. The Kenyan startup is betting that better financial data can make overlooked climate businesses easier and cheaper to finance.
Flowt has also issued its first loan facility to GreenBay, a Kenyan company that refurbishes and resells household appliances and solar home systems. The company told TechCabal that it connected to GreenBay’s accounting system and analysed bank statements to assess cash flows and repayment capacity in days.
“Funders in Africa have three bad options when they look at a small business,” said Elana Laichena, Flowt’s founder and chief executive. “They can demand collateral, conduct lengthy due diligence, or price loans more highly to compensate for limited information. All three are responses to the same problem, which is that nobody can see trustworthy numbers.”
