Grace Ashiru
To scale its all-in-one technology platform that manages collections, service charge administration, utilities vending, visitor access, and other services associated with multi-unit property developments throughout Africa, VENCO, a technology company that offers solutions to improve living experiences in residential and commercial communities in Africa, has secured $670,000 in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round.
Other strategic investors taking part in the pre-seed funding round included Voltron Capital, Decimal Point Ventures, Fast Forward Fund, Tayo Oviosu (CEO of Paga), Odun Eweniyi (COO of Piggyvest), Oo Nwoye, Desigan Chinniah, Dakar Network Angels, and Viktoria Business Angel Network. Zrosk Investment Management served as the round’s lead investor.
The new money will help VENCO expand into other cities and nations on the continent as well as build out its credit delivery infrastructure for rent and household expenditures, starting with Nigeria and Kenya.
Multi-property projects have become the preferred method of providing residential and commercial real estate as a result of the increasing urbanization of Africa.
80 percent of Nigeria’s 2.5 million households with monthly incomes of $1,000 or more reside in multi-property neighborhoods.
Rent takes up 25% of their income, while the remaining 50% is spent on other expenses such as consumables, utilities, internet data, cable TV, and other services.
Market opportunity for household spending is $22.5 billion in Nigeria and $100 billion for all of Africa.
However, there are numerous inefficiencies that negatively affect residents’ experiences and property owners’ income because administering various areas of life in these community complexes is mostly manual and paper-based.
For instance, the default rate on service charge collection for multi-property developments in Africa can be as high as 60%, leaving property managers either in the red or compelled to operate on a shoestring budget. Even once payments are received, the manual procedure of reconciliation results in frequent theft and error-prone results.
VENCO automates the collection and reconciliation of all dues and payments in communities, resulting in increased receipts and higher margins for property owners. It was co-founded by Chude Osiegbu (CEO), Reagan Mbitiru (CTO), and Uzochukwu Alor (COO).
Self-service capabilities made available by VENCO to residents streamline procedures like guest control, issue and emergency management, as well as utility vending.
Residents can now access a variety of embedded financial services, such as insurance, credit facilitation for rent, service charges, and household spend in addition to many other services, thanks to the ability to create an economic profile based on their financial transactions on the VENCO platform.
Over the past nine months, VENCO has experienced growth of more than 200 percent; it now operates in six cities and manages more than 12,000 residential units throughout Nigeria and Kenya.
Through its platform, it has completed transactions worth more than $10 million since January 2022. The business also collaborates with e-commerce platforms to make it simpler for customers to access local businesses, energy providers to ensure accurate energy metering and billing, and other service providers to enhance the quality of life in these neighborhoods.
The manual nature of numerous activities connected with living in residential and commercial communities in Africa causes many challenges, according to Chude Osiegbu, CEO and co-founder of VENCO, “which we believe technology can fix.
Beyond this, we also want to use technology to bring new experiences and services that will change how people live in Africa’s expanding cities and improve value for all.
We’re thrilled to have raised this money to continue our purpose of delivering technology solutions that will improve living conditions across the continent.
Zrosk Investment Management’s Samson Esemuede, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, stated: “The team at VENCO is developing a platform that enables the validation of the GDP of the African home.
A platform like VENCO not only makes it possible for African residents, facility managers, and property owners to have significantly better experiences, but it also has the ability to open up at scale the kinds of financial services that the African consumer genuinely needs.
We see VENCO as a SAAS and a bid for financial inclusion with the potential to have a significant multiplier effect on the continent. We are eager to assist the VENCO team in realizing their goals.
The VENCO
An African technology company called VENCO offers solutions to improve quality of life in residential and commercial communities.
Its all-in-one technology platform enables residents, property managers, and owners to run their neighborhoods stress-free and responsibly.
The solutions provided by VENCO streamline routine tasks such as bill payments, guest access, issue management, utilities vending, and more, lowering service delivery costs and enhancing convenience.
