Emata, a Ugandan startup that provides loans to farmers in East Africa, has raised $2.4 million in funding. It's also fundamentally unfair as farmers need capital to grow but a lot of money goes to people with connections, not the best farmers." Kampala-based Emata wants to be tech first in its offering and uses WhatsApp as a loan origination platform, given its popularity in a region where cell data is at a premium. The company claims it grew 7x in 2022 and could point to strong metrics when dealing with investors having already dispersed over $1 million in loans. Funding will go towards expanding the company's tech offering and looking into new verticals.

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Persons: Bram van den Bosch, It's, Klarna, Niklas Adalberth's Norrsken, Draper Richards, Marcus Boström, van den Bosch, Emata Organizations: African Renaissance Partners, Zephyr Acorn, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Locations: Ugandan, East Africa, Uganda, Kampala