Kenya’s Flowt raises $550,000 as it targets a $1 million loan book

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.”

Flowt’s software pulls transaction information from accounting systems and bank records, compares the datasets, and produces standardised financial information to assess credit.

According to the company, the financing gap for small businesses in Africa exceeded $330 billion. This is because most of them fall between microfinance and commercial banking, while due diligence on loans below $200,000 can also prove uneconomical for lenders.

A competitive segment

Flowt is entering an increasingly crowded African lending technology market, where startups like 4G Capital, Pezesha and Numida have spent the past five years trying to use alternative data to make credit decisions.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates Kenya’s SME financing gap at nearly 21% of GDP, while ongoing policy review puts demand for financing at about KES 4 trillion ($30.9 billion), against roughly KES 700 billion ($5.4 billion) provided by commercial banks.

Flowt’s distinction lies in its focus on climate-related SMEs and its attempt to build financial intelligence software alongside its lending business.

That focus also comes as climate technology has become a larger part of African venture investment. In 2025, climate-tech startups received over $1.5 billion, representing 40% of disclosed venture funding on the continent.

Flowt provides short-term loans in partnership with Choice Bank, a microfinance lender, and bases underwriting on transaction histories rather than fixed-asset collateral. It also plans to sell financial intelligence software to businesses, investors, and lenders.

“A lender that only lends has to raise capital forever in order to grow,” Laichena said. “The data we build to underwrite a loan is worth something to the business that generated it, and worth something again to the investor trying to find that business.”

Founded by Laichena in 2025, the company, which was incubated at Delta40 Venture Studio, is targeting a $1 million loan book by the end of 2026.

Laichena’s interest in solving the funding problems that SMEs face predates Flowt. She previously ran a company that converted sugarcane waste into an alternative to firewood, where selling to schools on long payment terms created a working-capital squeeze.

She later worked at Open Capital, a management consulting and financial advisory firm, before becoming managing director for Kenya at Delta40 Venture Studio, where Flowt was incubated.

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