Payhippo, a Nigerian fintech that formerly provided SME loans, has rebranded as Rivy and raised $4 million in a pre-Series A round to focus on its clean energy financing business. The funding—split evenly between $2 million in debt and $2 million in equity—will help the company expand beyond Nigeria with its clean energy financing solutions for businesses.
EchoVC, a Nigerian venture capital (VC) firm which has funded 38 African startups, co-led the equity round through its $2.5 million Eco fund, which focuses on climate, energy, agriculture, and mobility solutions, alongside Shell’s All On, a climate-focused impact investment organisation. Debt was provided by local debt providers.
Rivy’s shift underscores a growing trend among African fintechs looking beyond traditional lending to tackle structural challenges. In 2020, Nigeria’s Aella Credit expanded its micro-lending solutions to include healthcare, insurance, and bill payments, even experimenting with a blockchain lending solution Creditcoin. In 2023, Kenyan micro-lender Branch became a neobank after acquiring a microfinance bank.
Rather than supplying clean energy solutions directly, Rivy operates a dual marketplace, connecting over 250 solar vendors and installers with businesses while offering loans to spread the cost of solar systems over time.
“When Rivy was an SME lender, the recurring theme we found with small businesses that came to us for loans was their lack of electricity,” said Dami Olawoye, CEO of Rivy, formerly Payhippo. “We also noticed that solar installers didn’t have booking capital to buy equipment in bulk. We expanded to an asset financing solution in June 2023 to allow these small businesses to buy solar systems and spread the costs over a period of time.”
Founded in 2019 by Chioma Okotcha, Uche Nnadi, and Zach Bijesse, Rivy initially provided loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. After joining Y Combinator in 2021, Rivy saw leadership changes in 2023 when Olawoye, formerly CFO, took over as CEO while Bijesse moved to the board.
Despite the product expansion, Rivy’s underwriting engine remains central to its business. Olawaoye claims the startup’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio remained below 1%, signaling strong credit risk management.
“We built our underwriting engine and it is clearly working well because our loan defaults are low,” he said, declining to provide specifics.
Since shifting to clean energy financing, Rivy has seen strong demand from businesses despite the high cost of solar systems. In 2024, it disbursed $2 million in loans to businesses and grew its loan book at an average of 15% per month, according to Olawoye.
“When you do the math, businesses will spend more in the long-term [due to their high electricity demand],” said Olawoye. “If they get financing from us to buy a solar system in terms of the equivalent generating capacity, their monthly spend will be lower than what they pay to fuel their generator sets or on the revised electricity tariff bands.”
Rivy’s loan terms are structured based on the electricity demand, logistics, and solar installation service charges. The loan interest rate typically starts at around 12% for a three-month term and increases as the term lengthens. However, businesses must make an initial deposit of at least 30% of the full loan amount before they can access the loans.
Beyond individual businesses, Rivy also finances micro-grids—large-scale solar installations that serve business clusters, communities, and households. While businesses remain its core focus, the company has expanded to include consumer financing as well.
Olawoye said the company raised a mix of debt and equity because debt is better suited to its lending model. However, to raise debt, it had to raise equity funding alongside.
“Equity is expensive,” said Olawoye. “We can’t keep raising equity to lend money because everybody [shareholders] will keep getting diluted. If we want to raise future rounds, a structure we’re most likely to use will be one where we raise a combination of debt and equity.”
Rivy plans to deepen its presence in Nigeria while exploring expansion into other markets. In the race to keep the lights on in households and businesses, Rivy wants to be holding the torch.
