By Chisom Nwatu
Venco, a Nigerian proptech startup that provides solutions to enhance living experiences in residential and commercial communities in Africa, has secured $670,000 in pre-seed funding round to offer digital solutions for residential and commercial properties in Africa.
The pre-seed funding round was led by Zrosk Investment Management,and had in participation other strategic investors including Voltron Capital, Decimal Point Ventures, Fast Forward Fund, Tayo Oviosu (CEO of Paga), Odun Eweniyi (COO of Piggyvest), Oo Nwoye, Desigan Chinniah, Dakar Network Angels and Viktoria Business Angel Network.
The new funding is expected to support Venco in developing its credit delivery infrastructure for rent and household spend, as well as enhance expansion into other cities and countries on the continent, starting with Nigeria and Kenya. In addition, VENCO stated that the fund will further scale its all-in-one technology platform that manages collections, service charge administration, utilities vending, visitor access and other services associated with multi-unit property developments across Africa.
Venco, co-founded by Chude Osiegbu (CEO), Reagan Mbitiru (CTO) and Uzochukwu Alor (COO), has recorded over 200 percent growth over the last nine months and is currently available in six cities covering 12,000 property units across Nigeria and Kenya. The company has also processed more than $10 million in transaction value via its platform since January 2022.
In addition,Venco said it is partnering with ecommerce platforms to enable easier access to merchants within and around the community, energy companies to ensure reliable energy metering and collections, and other service providers to improve the overall experience in these communities.
Chude Osiegbu, CEO and co-founder of Venco, remarked that the company wants to leverage technology to deliver new services and experiences that will transform how people live in Africa’s growing cities and create better value for everyone across the board.
“Our goal is to deliver technology solutions that will enhance living experiences across the continent, and we are excited to have raised these funds to support that mission,” he added.
On his part, Samson Esemuede, managing director, and Chief Investment Officer at Zrosk Investment, noted that the team at Venco are building a platform that allows for the validation of the GDP of the African household.
“Not only does a platform like Venco allow for significant improvement in the experience of African residents, facility managers and property owners, it could potentially unlock at scale the sort of financial services the African consumer really needs,” Esemuede said.
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