How Kenya’s PayServe is building the operating layer for managed real estate

Kenyan prop-tech and fintech startup PayServe is raising a US$1 million Series A round as it scales a platform that automates billing, payments and reconciliation for the country’s fast-growing managed estates.

Founded in 2024, PayServe provides revenue assurance for managed real estate, handling billing for rent, service charge and utilities across gated communities, large apartment estates and mixed-use developments.

“Our platform reads consumption straight from our smart water and power meters, collects payments through M-Pesa and direct bank integrations with Absa, Co-op Bank, NCBA, Equity and KCB, and reconciles them automatically,” founder and CEO Steve Butler told Disrupt Africa. “It then posts everything to the client’s accounting system, such as SAP, Zoho or QuickBooks, with KRA eTIMS compliance built in.”

Around that core, the startup offers modules for visitor and access control, maintenance, procurement, unit handover, bookings, and a portal for residents and homeowners. Its customers are property developers, facility and property management companies, owners’ associations and community water schemes.

“Put simply, PayServe is the operating layer of managed real estate,” said Butler, who has spent more than 20 years working across fintech, banking, FMCG, real estate and development. He said PayServe was built in response to a structural shift in the Kenyan property market.

“Kenyan real estate has moved from standalone rentals to large managed developments: gated communities, apartment estates of 1,000 or more units, and mixed-use developments. Each one bills rents, service charge, water, power and security to hundreds of households,” he said.

“Yet most still run on spreadsheets, manual meter readings and M-Pesa statements reconciled by hand. That leads to disputed bills, revenue leakage, especially on service charge and water, late payments, and homeowners and residents who don’t trust the numbers.”

The startup sees its competition falling into three groups – rent-collection apps mostly built for landlords with tens of units, meter vendors who sell hardware but not the billing behind it, and global suites such as Yardi.

“Those global suites are expensive and not built for M-Pesa or eTIMS,” Butler said. “We combine software, metering, payments and accounting in one system built for estate-scale operations in Kenya.”

PayServe has been entirely founder-funded to date, but is now raising a US$1 million Series A.

“We’re raising to scale sales, deepen the product and expand regionally,” Butler said.

The startup has already built a sizeable footprint. It now bills more than 10,000 units across over 50 properties, has deployed 3,000 smart meters, and has processed KES1 billion (US$7.7 million) through the platform since inception.

“Flagship deployments include Northlands Heights, with over 1,000 units and more than 1,000 smart water meters, and Mwalimu Kisaju, with 840 units and 1,600 smart meters, plus JJ Tower, Altura, Volaire, Escada and others,” Butler said.

Other milestones include a live KRA eTIMS integration and direct integrations with Safaricom’s Daraja API and five major banks, with PesaLink next on the list.

“Our pipeline now extends into serviced apartments, mixed-use developments and community water projects,” he said.

PayServe makes money through three revenue streams – a monthly software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform fee per unit, smart water and power meters sold outright or leased, and implementation, integration and support services.

“For developers who don’t want upfront costs, we offer a zero-upfront model,” Butler said. “We deploy and operate the system and recover our costs through a revenue share over an agreed period.”

The journey so far has not been without its challenges.

“Sales cycles are long. Decisions involve developers, management companies and often owners’ committees,” Butler said. “And hardware is hard. Site readiness, plumbing and legacy meters from other vendors all affect timelines.”

Onboarding brings its own problems, with inherited billing records usually needing cleanup before go-live.

“Every client has a different bank, accounting system and tax setup, so each integration is its own project,” he said.

PayServe currently operates in Kenya, with clients in Nairobi, Eldoret and Mombasa, but has its sights set further afield.

“The near-term focus is expanding to regional markets like Uganda, Ethiopia and Congo, where the managed-estate market is growing fast, once the Kenya playbook is proven,” Butler said.

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