Kenyan fintech startup, Jahazii has raised $400,000 in pre-seed funding to accelerate its mission of building a workforce operating system for Africa.
According to the startup, it is building a platform designed to formalise and finance the continent’s informal workforce by integrating human resource management, payroll, and embedded financial services.
Jahazii says the new funding will help it expand its software suite across Kenya’s manufacturing and agricultural sectors, industries that together employ millions of informal workers.
“Informality is the biggest structural barrier holding back Africaʼs economic transformation,ˮ Sven Grospitsch, Jahazii CEO told TechCabal. “Without systems that provide structure and credibility, workers remain excluded from financial opportunities, and organizations canʼt scale efficiently. Jahazii exists to change that.”
What You Should Know
The pre-seed funding round, a mix of equity, debt, and grants, saw participation from Antler East Africa, DEG Impulse, Jozi Angels, Innovest Afrika, and several strategic angel investors.
Founded in 2023 by Grospitsch, Vaidehi Tembhekar, and Martin Gitehi, Jahazii operates across Kenya’s agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
The company says its approach echoes a broader shift among African fintechs toward infrastructure-first solutions, as investors grow wary of unsustainable digital credit models.
Understanding Jahazii’s Model
Unlike conventional digital lenders, often criticised for high interest rates and aggressive debt collection practices, Jahazii partners with employers to integrate earned wage access and financial tools within existing HR and payroll operations.
This model allows employees to access part of their earned wages before payday, use savings features, and buy insurance, all through a single, employer-linked platform. For employers, Jahazii automates HR tasks, compliance, and payroll, streamlining operations while giving their workforce financial stability.
“By embedding financial services into the paycheck, weʼre building the financial infrastructure for Africaʼs middle classˮ Sven said. “This investment allows us to scale responsibly, deepen employer partnerships, and give workers fair financial access without the traps of high-interest loan apps.”
Tackling Africa’s Informal Employment Challenge
More than eight in ten jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa are informal, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This means that the majority of workers earn their living without employment contracts, payslips, or access to regulated financial products.
For these millions of workers, the lack of employment records makes it almost impossible for banks or traditional lenders to assess creditworthiness, cutting them off from savings, insurance, and affordable loans.
Jahazii says it aims to bridge this data and trust gap by enabling employers to digitise workforce information while embedding financial tools directly into payroll systems.
The company enters an increasingly active market that includes players such as Workpay, SeamlessHR, Sage, and PaidHR, all working to digitise HR and payroll processes across Africa.
However, Jahazii believes its approach is different, as it is deliberately focusing on industrial and agricultural employers, a segment that has historically been overlooked by HR and fintech innovators, despite accounting for a significant share of Africa’s workforce.
As the fintech scales, experts say it is positioning itself not merely as an earned wage access platform but as a catalyst for inclusive economic growth, one that transforms the daily realities of Africa’s low-income workers into data-driven opportunities for financial empowerment.
Talking Points
Jahazii’s approach to tackling Africa’s informal employment challenge is both practical and transformative. By enabling workers to access part of their earned wages before payday, the startup is addressing a real financial pain point faced by millions who often depend on irregular cash flow to meet daily needs.
At Techparley, we see Jahazii’s platform as a crucial step toward formalising Africa’s informal workforce, especially in sectors like manufacturing and agriculture, where millions remain outside the reach of traditional financial systems.
By digitising HR, payroll, and compliance, Jahazii is helping employers build data trails that can unlock credit opportunities and long-term financial inclusion for their workers.
As Jahazii scales, success will depend on deepening employer partnerships, maintaining data security, and ensuring that its tools remain affordable and user-friendly for smaller businesses.
With strategic execution and responsible growth, Jahazii has the potential to become a cornerstone of Africa’s emerging workforce finance sector, bridging the gap between informal labour and formal financial opportunity.
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