In 2024, TechCabal’s big stories on the Kenyan startup ecosystem signalled mixed fortunes for founders. While shutdowns and downsizes topped our headlines, some startups bucked the trend with millions in fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, and ambitious cross-border expansions.

Copia, a B2C e-commerce startup, and iProcure, a B2B agritech startup, entered administration in H1 2024 after failing to secure new funding. Copia’s co-founder, Tracey Turner, said she would launch a new entity, but this has not taken shape.

M-KOPA navigated a complex tax claim in Kenya and increased its investment with an expanded phone assembly facility in Nairobi and an e-bike plant.

“We are now profitable as an organisation and have been profitable for several quarters,” Mayur Patel, M-KOPA Fintech MD, told TechCabal in November 2024.

In 2024, Kenya also witnessed the first two startup acquisitions, with Kopo Kopo and Hisa welcoming new owners. Craydel, a Kenyan ed-tech, also expanded to Zimbabwe, making it its fourth market on the continent.

Here are our choices for Kenyan startups to watch in 2025:

M-KOPA

In September 2024, M-KOPA announced it had reached five million customers across five African markets as the company continued its pan-African expansion. This milestone makes it the first Kenyan financial services startup to record such impressive customer numbers.

Founded in 2010 by Nick Hughes, Chad Larson and Jesse Moore, M-KOPA is a PAYGO fintech that provides affordable smartphones, solar panels and electric motorcycles to low-income earners.

With Kenya’s tax claim now behind it, the company is keen to expand the market for its locally assembled smartphones and electric motorcycles.

“We think about our success in terms of the scale we can achieve. We are financing progress in the lives of everyday earners, and that’s important for us because our customers are primarily self-employed individuals working in the informal economy,” Patel said.

KopoKopo

In August 2023, Nigeria’s newest unicorn, Moniepoint, finalised its acquisition of Kenya’s payments and credit startup, Kopo Kopo, for an undisclosed value. The transaction extends the fintech’s presence to East Africa’s biggest economy. Founded in 2012 by Ben Lyon and Dylan Higgins, Kopo Kopo offers payments solutions and credit facilities to small businesses and mid-size enterprises.

Banks and mobile money control a significant chunk of Kenya’s payments and credit market. Regulators like the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) have been tough on fintech, delaying critical approvals for operation.

Moniepoint’s entry into Kenya will be closely watched and scrutiny from regulators will only increase.

Craydel

In November 2024, Kenyan ed-tech startup Craydel entered Zimbabwe, bringing to four the market the startup operates. The company has built a unified university applications platform for learners in Africa. Its university matchmaker offers the most personalised recommendations for students.

Founded in 2021, Craydel assists African students to apply universities abroad. Craydel operates in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, with 600 partner universities across 45 countries.

“​​The study abroad market in Africa is a multi-billion dollar, rapidly growing market. It is currently dominated by a large number of unorganised, fragmented and analogue study abroad agents,” said Manish Sardana, Craydel founder and CEO.

Hisa

In another major acquisition this year, Rise, a Nigerian fintech that gives customers access to selected global investments, acquired Hisa, a Kenyan investment startup. Hisa, which has retained its brand and operations after the acquisition, hopes to grow its customer base and introduce new products.

Founded in 2020 by Eric Asuma and Eric Jackson, Hisa is a platform that allows users to invest in Kenyan and global assets including stocks, bonds and ETFs.

“Hisa’s growth since the Risevest acquisition has been incredible. We’re scaling fast, fixing technical issues, and rolling out big changes,” said Asuma.”Interestingly, Hisa hit record-breaking trading volumes in the last week of November, highest in over a year, driven by the buzz around the US election.”

Sukhiba

Shukhiba, a Kenyan social commerce startup, raised $1.5 million when most players in the sector were downsizing or shutting down. Shukhiba is a B2B conversational e-commerce platform that allows customers to order for products on WhatsApp.

Founded in 2020 by Ananth Raj and Abhinav Reddy, the startup claims that shoppers trust its platform more than e-commerce websites that do not “seem like there is a person behind that you can have a conversation with prior to purchase.”