Baobab Network, a prominent venture capital firm committed to fostering innovation across Africa’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, has kicked off its latest round of investments in 2025. At the forefront of this initiative is Nigeria-based fintech startup, CreditChek, which is revolutionizing cross-border credit assessments for African immigrants.

CreditChek, founded in 2021 by Kingsley Ibe and Lionel Orishane, addresses a critical challenge for Africa’s estimated 40 million emigrants annually. With 70% of these individuals excluded from basic financial services due to non-transferable credit histories, the startup is creating a robust infrastructure to bridge this gap. Leveraging connections with African credit bureaus, open banking tools for income assessment, and government databases for identity verification, CreditChek enables financial institutions to evaluate creditworthiness across borders in under five minutes.

Baobab Network’s decision to invest in CreditChek stems from its potential to address a massive market opportunity. The founders bring significant expertise: CEO Kingsley Ibe previously built and scaled MicroMoni, while CTO Lionel Orishane boasts over a decade of experience in systems architecture and cybersecurity. Together, they have developed technology that reduces credit assessment integration times from nine months to just 72 hours, enabling financial institutions to efficiently serve immigrant populations.

Baobab Network’s backing reflects confidence in CreditChek’s ability to replicate the success of solutions like Nova Credit, which has tackled similar challenges for immigrants in the U.S. With Africa’s emigrant population projected to grow to 147 million by 2050, CreditChek’s platform has the potential to transform access to financial services for a significant portion of the diaspora.

This investment in CreditChek marks the beginning of a new investment cycle for Baobab Network in 2025. While details of the overall fund size for this round have not been publicly disclosed, the firm has previously invested $100,000 in equity in each selected company. Last year, the firm reviewed 7,000 applications and invested in 10 start-ups. These included:

• Buyam (Cameroon): An e-commerce platform connecting merchants, resellers, and consumers.
• Swyft (Cameroon): A logistics company offering delivery, e-commerce fulfilment, and relocation services.
• RentScore (Kenya): A platform converting rent payments into equity to facilitate homeownership.
• EnvoyX (Côte d’Ivoire): An AI-powered platform streamlining healthcare payment processing.
• VOVE ID (Morocco): A secure digital identity verification platform.
• Lemonade (Kenya): A platform offering blockchain-based digital payments.
• Aktivate (Nigeria): A platform simplifying influencer marketing for brands and influencers.
• iFunza (Kenya): A mobile-first platform connecting borrowers and lenders for education loans.
• PeerCarbon (Kenya): A platform facilitating green finance for Kenyan SMEs.

These past investments highlight the breadth of Baobab Network’s interest across diverse sectors, including e-commerce, logistics, real estate, healthcare, fintech, and green finance. The firm’s focus remains on identifying and supporting early-stage companies addressing critical market needs and demonstrating strong growth potential.

The launch of this new investment round and the initial backing of CreditChek reaffirms Baobab Network ’s commitment to the African start-up ecosystem and signals continued investor confidence in the continent’s entrepreneurial landscape.