What Kopo Kopo does

Kopo Kopo is a Nairobi-based fintech serving Kenyan small and medium businesses with a unified platform for accepting digital payments, managing outgoing payments, and accessing working capital credit. Founded in 2012 through a foundational partnership with Safaricom, the company has built its core offering on top of M-PESA — Kenya's dominant mobile money rail — providing merchants with Lipa Na M-PESA Buy Goods till numbers for accepting customer payments. The platform serves more than 40,000 businesses across diverse SME segments including retail, food and beverage, hospitality, automotive, healthcare, beauty, and professional services, with mid-market adopters such as Denri Africa (8-branch bag manufacturer).

The platform combines payment acceptance with an integrated suite of financial tools: the Kopo Kopo Online Portal for real-time transaction visibility and multi-till management, Business Cash Advance and Overdraft for unsecured short-term credit, Bulk Pay and Move Money for outgoing disbursements to bank accounts, M-PESA, Paybill, and Till destinations, and operational features including Payment Links for remote collection and a Cashier role for hospitality staff. Underpinning the platform is K2 Connect, a REST API suite with SDKs in Node.js, Ruby, Python, PHP, and Dart, plus an official WooCommerce plugin for online merchants and announced future support for Shopify, Wix, Ecwid, and Odoo. Distribution is product-led and digital-first: merchants self-onboard via web app, Android and iOS apps, or USSD (*681#), with customer success stories and word-of-mouth referrals as primary acquisition channels. In April 2026, Kopo Kopo received a Digital Credit Provider licence from the Central Bank of Kenya, formalizing its regulated lending activity.

Kopo Kopo monetizes primarily through transaction fees (0.55% on WooCommerce plugin payments, KSh 50 flat per Move Money transfer, settlement to M-PESA free) and credit-related charges (0.75% per day on outstanding Overdraft balances, daily-deduction buy-sell mechanics on Cash Advance). The company is privately held and backed by Javelin Venture Partners, Accion Venture Lab, and Khosla Impact, with approximately $5.6 million disclosed across funding rounds from 2010 to 2015.

Name

Kopo Kopo

Legal name

Kopo Kopo Inc.

Website

https://kopokopo.co.ke

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Kopo Kopo is a Nairobi-based fintech serving more than 40,000 Kenyan small and medium businesses with a mobile-first platform for accepting M-PESA payments, managing outgoing payments, and accessing working capital credit. It operates as a CBK-licensed Digital Credit Provider.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Merchant Payment Platform

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

POS, SoftPOS & In-Person Acceptance Infrastructure (FSAGABAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Integrated POS Payments (ISVs & Vertical POS Platforms) (FSAMADAD)

Keywords

• Mobile payments
• Merchant payment platform
• M-PESA integration
• Small business lending
• Payment APIs

Headquarters

HQ city

Nairobi

HQ country

Kenya

HQ region

Africa

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Transaction Fees: Kopo Kopo charges merchants a transaction fee on payments processed through their platform. For WooCommerce plugin transactions, the fee is 0.55% per transaction. Standard Lipa na M-PESA charges also apply per Safaricom tariff schedule. Fees are non-refundable and charged per service used.
2. Move Money Transfer Fees: A flat fee of KSh 50 per payment regardless of amount or destination (bank or M-PESA). For example, 10 payments totaling KSh 1,000,000 incur KSh 500 in total fees. Settlements to preferred M-PESA accounts remain free.
3. Overdraft Interest: Interest charged on outstanding overdraft balance at a rate of 0.75% per day. The overdraft facility is free if settled within the same day. Interest accrues on the overdrawn portion until fully repaid.
4. Cash Advance Interest: Cash advance structured as a buy-sell agreement where Kopo Kopo purchases future merchant transactions at a mutually agreed amount. Interest and principal are repaid via automatic daily deduction of a specified percentage from incoming M-PESA transactions until the advance is fully settled.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Kopo Kopo provides Kenyan small and medium businesses with a unified platform to accept digital payments via M-PESA till numbers, access unsecured working capital credit (Business Cash Advance and Overdraft), disburse bulk payments to suppliers and employees, and integrate payment capabilities into third-party applications through the K2 Connect REST API suite. The platform is delivered via web app, iOS and Android mobile apps, USSD (*681#), and developer SDKs, and is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya as a Digital Credit Provider.

Product overview

Kopo Kopo is a Kenya-based merchant payments and business finance platform founded in 2012, offering a unified suite of tools for small and medium businesses to accept digital payments, access credit, and manage business finances. The core offering centers on Lipa na M-PESA payment acceptance via till numbers, complemented by the Online Portal for transaction management and reporting. The platform extends through lending products (Business Cash Advance for unsecured loans and Overdraft for flexible credit lines), payment management modules (Bulk Pay for multi-destination payments, Move Money for unified outgoing payments, Add Money for fund loading), and collection tools (Payment Links for remote collection, Cashier role for service businesses). K2 Connect provides developer APIs and SDKs for third-party integrations, with official plugins for WooCommerce and upcoming support for Shopify, Wix, Ecwid, and Odoo. Merchants access the platform via web app, Android app, iOS app, and USSD channel (*681#). The company is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya as a Digital Credit Provider.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• K2 Connect: APIs and SDKs for developers to seamlessly integrate payments into back office applications, including accounting packages, mobile apps, and Point of Sale systems. Supports webhooks, receive payments (M-PESA STK Push), send money, and polling.

Products and services

• Lipa na M-PESA Mobile money payment acceptance service enabling businesses to receive M-PESA payments via Buy Goods till numbers. Customers pay by entering their M-PESA PIN through Safaricom's STK Push, with funds credited instantly to the merchant's Kopo Kopo account.
• Kopo Kopo Online Portal Web-based dashboard providing real-time visibility to transactions, customer payments, reports, and business tools. Enables multi-till management, account statement access, sales comparison across locations, user access control, and multiple settlement wallet configuration.
• Kopo Kopo Bulk Pay Bulk payment solution allowing merchants to send money to multiple destinations (Paybill accounts, M-PESA numbers, Buy Goods tills, bank accounts) directly from their Kopo Kopo account. Supports spreadsheet file uploads for batch processing with security layers for payment approval workflows.
• Kopo Kopo Business Cash Advance Unsecured business loan facility providing quick financing for working capital or business expansion. Approved amounts are disbursed immediately to the merchant's Kopo Kopo account. Repayment is automatically deducted as a percentage of daily transactions, with faster repayment for higher transaction volumes.
• Kopo Kopo Overdraft Credit facility providing access to additional funds when account balance is insufficient for business expenses. Features include 0.75% daily interest on outstanding balance, same-day free overdraft when settled within the same day, running access allowing repeated draws up to qualified limit, and automatic repayment from incoming Lipa Na M-PESA payments.
• K2 Connect Developer API platform providing payment infrastructure access for businesses to integrate Kopo Kopo into their applications. Includes REST APIs, webhooks for event notifications, SDKs for Node.js, Ruby, Python, PHP, and Dart, sandbox testing environment, and OAuth authentication with scope-based permissions.
• Kopo Kopo for WooCommerce Official WordPress/WooCommerce plugin enabling online shops to accept M-PESA payments via STK Push at checkout. Features 0.55% transaction fee, automatic fallback to till/paybill if STK Push fails, and unified view with in-person payments in the same Kopo Kopo account.

Quantifiable outcome

• Till setup completed within the same week of application
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• SafaricomcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2012Since 2012, Kopo Kopo has partnered with Safaricom as a key integration partner to offer Lipa Na M-PESA Buy Goods till services to small and medium businesses. Kopo Kopo is integrated with M-PESA for receiving payments (STK Push, Till, Paybill) and sending money. Safaricom's M-PESA infrastructure forms the payment rail for all Kopo Kopo transactions.
• WooCommerce (Automattic)coreTechnology or IntegrationKopo Kopo built an official WooCommerce plugin (available on WordPress Marketplace) enabling WooCommerce store owners in Kenya to accept M-PESA STK Push payments at checkout. The plugin charges 0.55% per transaction and automatically falls back to Till/Paybill if STK Push fails.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/KopoKopoInc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kopo-kopo-inc
• Facebookfacebook.com/kopokopoinc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kopo Kopo