Kigali-based fintech Kayko has raised $1.2 million in seed funding to deepen its mission of digitising small and medium-sized businesses and unlocking access to formal credit across Rwanda. The round was backed by Burrow Capital, Luxembourg Development Agency, Hanga Ignite by BRD, and develoPPP Ventures, reflecting growing investor confidence in data-driven approaches to financial inclusion.
Kayko was built to address a fundamental challenge facing African SMEs: millions of small businesses operate daily, generating sales, managing inventory, and paying taxes, yet remain invisible to banks. Without structured, trusted financial data, lenders struggle to assess risk, leaving entrepreneurs locked out of the capital needed to grow, hire, or scale. The result is a persistent financing gap that continues to constrain productivity and economic growth.
Founded in 2021 by brothers Crepin Kayisire and Kevin Kayisire, Kayko evolved from a university capstone project into a full micro-ERP and data layer for small businesses. Today, more than 8,500 SMEs use the platform daily for bookkeeping, inventory management, and tax compliance visibility. From market traders and retail shops to service providers, Kayko is increasingly becoming the system of record for informal and semi-formal businesses across Rwanda.
The insight behind the platform is straightforward: lenders cannot finance what they cannot understand. Rather than burdening merchants with more paperwork, Kayko captures real business activity in real time—sales, expenses, inventory movements, and compliance signals—in a format financial institutions can trust. This operational data is then translated into a verifiable financial profile that allows banks and other lenders to assess creditworthiness without relying on traditional collateral.
By turning everyday transactions into usable financial signals, Kayko effectively de-risks lending to informal businesses. This opens the door to working capital, data-driven loans, and smarter financial products tailored to the realities of SMEs. For merchants, it means access to capital based on how their businesses actually perform, not on static documents or asset ownership.
The newly raised capital will allow Kayko to go deeper on this vision. The company plans to strengthen its infrastructure to support a growing user base, expand its data-driven lending and credit-scoring capabilities, and deepen integrations with financial institutions. Improving the accuracy and fairness of its proprietary credit models is a key priority, as is scaling partnerships that can translate SME data into real financing opportunities.
The mix of venture and development-focused investors in the round underscores Kayko’s dual promise: commercial viability and meaningful socioeconomic impact. As Rwanda continues to formalise and digitise its economy, platforms that sit at the intersection of data, SMEs, and finance are likely to play a critical role.
With this seed funding, Kayko is positioning itself not just as a bookkeeping tool, but as core financial infrastructure for small businesses—transforming daily commercial activity into visibility, trust, and ultimately, access to capital.
