Kenyan e-health startup Benacare and Zambian fintech Mighty Finance have raised funding from Village Capital and Standard Chartered Bank through a new female-focused financing facility.
Village Capital has partnered with Standard Chartered Bank to pilot a financing facility to invest in the bank’s Women in Tech programme.
With a primary focus on early-stage, impact-focused startups led by women founders, the initiative seeks to address the gender financing gap that persists in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Bena Care, a Kenyan startup delivering affordable clinical and supportive care to patients with life-limiting illnesses in the comfort of own homes, and Zambia’s Mighty Finance, a fintech startup providing access to capital for primarily women-led businesses, have each raised US$75,000 from the facility.
“We’re extremely excited to partner with Standard Chartered Bank to support their vision to lift participation of women globally by driving more investment capital to impact-driven women founders,” said Heather Matranga, vice president for impact investments at Village Capital.
“For over a decade, Village Capital has been developing systems and processes to improve equity in investment decision-making and ultimately unlock more opportunity and capital for women-founded and led ventures. Through this pilot facility, we intend to provide innovative and catalytic financing that truly meets the needs of women entrepreneurs across a range of business models and markets.”
Joyce Kibe, head of corporate affairs, brand and marketing at Standard Chartered, said she was excited to partner Village Capital to bolster its Women in Tech programme, which has trained more than 70 women-led businesses by providing them with critical support to help scale their businesses to international standards.
“We believe by supporting more women in business, we are stimulating more robust and resilient economic activity, while providing support for inputs that are often neglected for startup businesses,” she said.
