Kenya and United States (US)-based fintech company Lendable has raised US$6.5 million in a Series A investment round, which will be used to scale operations, drive market expansion, and roll out new products.

Founded in 2014, Lendable bridges the gap between institutional debt investors and high growth alternative lenders in Africa by employing tech-enabled deal services to help alternative lenders access structured finance to scale up their operations.

Lendable says it is able to reduce the time, resources and frictional costs incurred in closing deals by providing deal origination, due diligence, standardised documentation, customisable online pricing models, payments administration and post-deal reporting.

The company, which has analysed over 300,000 loans, signed up six alternative lenders, and is on track to move over US$5 million in capital in 2017, has now secured US$6.5 million in growth funding from KawiSafi Ventures, Omidyar Network, Fenway Summer Ventures and a number of prominent fintech angel investors in the US.

With the scaling up of operations in Nairobi and New York, 2018 will see Lendable on track to complete ten transactions per quarter. The company will use this new round of funding to expand its services to Tanzania, Rwanda and at least one other market, while expanding its line of products.

"Over the last year we have shown we can raise commercial capital for alternative lenders, deliver commercial returns to US investors, and help our alternative lending partners grow exponentially. We are excited to use this money to dramatically increase the scale of capital we are moving and continue to prove out this asset class," said Daniel Goldfarb, CEO and co-founder of Lendable.

Amar Inamdar, managing director of KawiSafi Ventures, said the lack of well-priced debt is holding back the growth of successful off-grid energy companies.

"Lendable is developing unparalleled capability to de-risk debt and support alternative lenders in East Africa. This enables energy access for millions of poor and underserved customers throughout the region," he said.

Ameya Upadhyay, principal at Omidyar Network said Lendable is able to predict payment behaviour of micro-entrepreneurs, many of whom do not have access to affordable credit.

"This enables Lendable to unlock capital for creation of productive assets which drive greater economic productivity for millions of people and their families in frontier markets," she said.