VunaPay is helping Kenyan smallholder farmers access faster payments through cooperative-focused agri-fintech tools.
Tackling Delayed Farmer Payments
Kenyan agri-fintech startup VunaPay (site) is working to reduce delayed payments for smallholder farmers by enabling near-instant compensation when produce is delivered to agricultural societies and aggregators.
At the time of writing, the platform is already working with more than 100,000 smallholder farmers, while integrating digital payment tools with cooperative management systems.
The company was founded in 2023 by Gatwiri Njogu-Mokaya, Koya Matsuno and Ian Wambai. It partners with agricultural cooperatives to support automated payment processing, record management and transparent financial transactions.
A Cooperative-Focused Model
VunaPay’s platform combines payments with tools for inventory tracking, producer tracking, delivery registration and real-time record keeping. The aim is to improve efficiency, transparency and trust across agricultural value chains that still depend heavily on manual processes.
The company connects farmers, cooperatives and financial institutions through a single digital interface, helping agricultural organisations manage records while giving producers faster access to income after delivery.
Reducing Cash-Flow Pressure
VunaPay’s central focus is the long delay many farmers face after handing over produce.
“Farmers usually need to wait for three-to-six months, or even over a year, to get paid for the produce they have already delivered,” Njogu-Mokaya said.
These delays can push farmers toward middlemen offering lower prices, or toward high-interest loans. By triggering payments when produce is delivered, VunaPay is positioning its model as a way to reduce cash-flow uncertainty for smallholder farmers and support better financial planning.
Scaling Across Value Chains
VunaPay currently operates in Kenya, with a focus on coffee, maize and dairy cooperatives. The company has onboarded 140 cooperatives in three value chains and registered more than 110,000 farmers on its platform.
It has received backing from venture capital firms including 54 Collective and Lifetime Ventures, as well as grant funding from Heifer International and MIT Solve.
“We are also closing a partnership with a tier 1 commercial bank and exploring blended finance opportunities with DFIs to bring affordable embedded finance opportunities to our customers,” said Njogu-Mokaya.
Expansion Plans
The company plans to expand into additional agricultural value chains, including tea, while also increasing its geographic reach within Kenya and eventually other African markets.
VunaPay generates revenue through transaction fees on payments made to farmers. Its model reflects the growing role of digital tools in strengthening rural financial inclusion, improving cooperative operations and modernizing agricultural value chains.
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