Float raises US$17m seed to power cash flow in Africa

Many firms are addressing these issues for African SMBs in some way, and the demand for their services has led to a substantial round of funding for Ghanaian startup Float. The fintech that provides corporate credit lines has secured $17 million in investment, which it will use to expand its capabilities geographically.

The seed round consisted of a $7 million equity investment and a $10 million debt investment. While Cauris provided debt funding, Tiger Global and JAM Fund, Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen’s investment business, co-led the equity portion. Kinfolk, Soma Capital, Ingressive Capital, and Magic Fund are among the other VC firms investing in the equity round.

Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel, Sandy Kory of Horizon Partners, Ramp founders Karim Atiyeh and Eric Glyman, Gregory Rockson of mPharma, and Dutchie founders Zach Lipson and Ross Lipson were among the angel investors who attended.

CEO Jesse Ghansah founded Swipe alongside Barima Effah in 2020, and after a rebranding as Float, the firm went live with its product in June 2021. In 2016, the chief executive came up with the idea for the YC-backed Ghanaian fintech while working at OMG Digital, a media firm he created that also went into YC.