Greenhouse Capital has led a $1.5m pre-seed funding round inYep!, Lagos and San Francisco based super-app that boosts financial inclusion, economic opportunities, and remittances to and within Africa.

Yep! is a digital financial services company leveraging technology to deliver unconventional and intuitive financial services and solutions that fills the gap left by existing banking models which fail to serve Africa's unbanked, underserved and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). 

As part of its mission to boost financial inclusion, Yep! will leverage its existing merchant network, PayCentre Africa, to ease entry into the formal economy for rural communities, who would otherwise be financially excluded.

The company's services enable entrepreneurs, small business owners, students, MSMEs, and merchants to gain safe and easy access to financial solutions digitally. 

The company has ambitious growth plans of doubling an existing network of about 100,000 merchants to over 200,000 by the end of 2022.

Olaoluwa Awojoodu, Yep! Co-Founder, said: "We have secured a $500,000 credit facility that will enable us to kick-start the provision of working capital loans to our existing merchants as we expand across the continent. As we strive to deliver on our promise of bringing financial access to all Africans and connecting Africans to the world, increasing Yep!'s lending capacity will be a key catalyst in pulling more customers and merchants into our ecosystem. Access to finance can be transformative - it unlocks opportunities among those that need it the most and has a huge impact on the wider economy." 

The founders are also in discussions with international credit providers to increase the super-app's debt facility to $10m by the end of this year as the company scales its lending operations.

The firm is exploring partnerships with leading US banks and service providers to expand its products to customers in the US, building on remittance flows to Africa from the diaspora and migrants from the region. Product lines across the Atlantic will include low-cost and freely accessible remittances to African countries, free checking and saving accounts and a credit card to start.

Ruby Nimkar, Partner at Greenhouse Capital, said: “We are excited to support Olaoluwa, Airende and Garry as they make financial services accessible to consumers and businesses both on the continent, as well as in the diaspora. The founders are seasoned operators and we were impressed by the vision, the team and the speed of execution.”