ApexPeak hands Umati Capital a $10 million finance line

Umati Capital are set to disrupt traditional supply chain finance. Having competed a six-month pilot of their proprietary solution, M-Trader, the founders of Umati Capital are keen to take M-Trader nationwide, and open their doors to every agriculture-related business in Kenya.

M-Trader is one of three mobile applications launched as part of a suite, designed to make the adoption of invoice discounting easy for SME farmers and multi-nationals.

“We are confident our loan book will grow twenty-fold come December 2014. Since the launch of M-Trader, we have attracted a pipeline of over 50,000 active users,” says co-founder Ivan Mbowa.

“Four large industrial companies purchasing volume agriculture products for retail sale have also joined the programme, and we expect this number to grow before the year is out.”

When Umati went shopping for funding earlier this year, banks and non-bank providers of capital were shy to lend the start-up the capital it needed. ApexPeak stepped in and signed a six-month agreement, providing US$300,000 to begin with, and scope to finance Umati in excess of US$10 million per month.

African Trade Insurance Agency closed the circle, underwriting the capital.

“ApexPeak was willing to provide us with a larger investment compared to other financiers. Its credibility as an anchor debt investor has made all the difference. Since ApexPeak came on board, many doors have opened to additional finance should we need it.”

Gakim Solomons, CEO of ApexPeak, saw the deal with Umati as straightforward. “We understand the challenges of setting up a supply chain finance platform. We were interested in the credit worthiness of the buyers, and the banks were interested in the credit worthiness of Umati. As Umati has no trading history, there was a problem.”

ApexPeak is pioneering new technology for the digital banking age. The relationship with Umati Capital is key.

“Most companies, when they talk about supply chain finance, struggle to get SMEs to adopt simple measures like paperless invoicing,” says Gakim.

“Umati has gone one step further and shown the industry that supply chain finance can work from a cell phone. We are hoping Umati will make its technology available to other markets”.

About ApexPeak

ApexPeak eases cash-flow problems faced by SMEs and MNCs by buying e-invoices before they fall due. Founded in 2013, the firm provides funding lines in excess of USD1.3 billion, to businesses located in APMEA (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa). ApexPeak is headquartered in Singapore, with a second office located in Cape Town, South Africa.

About Umati Capital

Umati Capital Limited is a non-bank financial intermediary headquartered in Kenya serving markets in in East & Southern Africa. We are focused on the provision of supply chain finance across various agribusiness value chains. We leverage technology to provide financing to SMEs who supply to larger entities.

Media contact

Anthony Coundouris, Marketing, ApexPeak

media@apexpeak.om