The startup — launched last June by Kennedy Ekezie-Joseph, Duke Ekezie and Jephthah Uche — received investment from backers such as Goodwater Capital, TEN13 VC, Rocketship VC, Saison Capital, Crestone VC, VentureSouq, Horizon Partners and Vibe Capital. The company announced its $3.2 million pre-seed from Target Global and other investors last November. Although the platform has grown to accommodate over 500,000 small businesses, Ekezie-Joseph didn’t say how many were active. Any company providing services to thousands of small and medium businesses across various cities in Nigeria has an extensive distribution network to build new products on top. Last week, the company announced that it obtained a licence from Nigeria’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to operate as a Super Agent, just like agency banking players OPay and TeamApt. To that effect, the finance management platform has recruited ex-regulators and senior executives at startups like OPay, BharatPe, Khatabook, TeamApt, OKCredit, NIBSS, and Unified Payments, amongst others. The company and its competitors have convinced investors that the market they serve is massive for every player to co-exist. But as these platforms pitch different approaches to businesses — bookkeeping, connection with suppliers, banking and software services — credit is the glue that makes everything stick. Kippa said the investment will allow it to develop financial products that help SMEs grow their businesses and grow its team in Nigeria. In the interview with CEO Ekezie-Joseph last November, he said Kippa had over 130,000 active businesses, ranging from small kiosks and street corner shops to local food vendors and high-end merchants. Kippa is one of the many bookkeeping platforms for small and medium businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.