Kigali fintech Kayko raises $1.2M seed to unlock SME lending with transaction data

What's the deal? KaykoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Rwandan fintech, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding. Investors include Burrow Capital, the Luxembourg Development Agency (LuxDev), Hanga Ignite by BRD and develoPPP Ventures. The money will go into Kayko's infrastructure and data capabilities, and into credit-scoring and lending tools built on real transaction data.

Context Kayko was founded in 2021 by brothers Crepin and Kevin Kayisire. It offers small businesses a micro-ERP for sales, inventory, bookkeeping, tax and payments, and more than 8,500 Rwandan SMEs use it. The digital records it produces let lenders assess merchants that have no traditional collateral. Kayko has also received an Electronic Money Issuer licence from the National Bank of Rwanda, which allows it to run regulated payments and merchant wallets.

Source Daba Finance, 6 January 2026; Tech In Africa, 24 February 2026