inventory-financing
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The Company Loaning Cannabis the Money Banks Won't Touch
Cannabis is legal in most of the country and still can't get a bank loan. FundCanna built a lending machine inside that gap - and now the institutions that stayed away are quietly following it in.
Stephen Igwue
Stephen Igwue is a Nigerian software engineer and co-founder of Suplias (YC S21), a Lagos-based B2B fintech that lets FMCG distributors and retailers buy inventory on credit through its Obtainly app. He leads the company as Chief Executive Officer, having earlier driven its technology as CTO, and describes his work in the language of Arthur C. Clarke: building software good enough to look like magic.
Suplias
Suplias is a Lagos-based B2B fintech that helps FMCG distributors and small retailers in Africa buy inventory on credit. Founded in 2019 and part of Y Combinator's Summer 2021 batch, it started as a marketplace connecting mom-and-pop shops with manufacturers, then leaned into its Obtainly app, which lets retailers and distributors pay suppliers, build a credit history, and access short-term inventory and LPO financing with no collateral and repayment over roughly 30 days.
Iain Usiri
Iain Usiri is the co-founder and CEO of Ramani, a Tanzanian fintech building financial infrastructure for Africa's consumer-packaged-goods supply chains. A Stanford computer science graduate and former Salesforce product manager, he gave up his US immigration status and flew home one-way in 2019 to start the company with his brother Calvin and friend Martin Kibet. Ramani gives micro distribution centers free point-of-sale and inventory software, then monetizes through lending - and in 2022 raised a $32M Series A led by Flexcap Ventures after passing through Y Combinator's W20 batch.