Cladfy Financial Services

Cladfy Financial Services is a Kenya-based financial technology company that builds lending infrastructure for SACCOs, cooperatives, fintechs and microfinance lenders. Its platform covers the lending lifecycle: loan origination and borrower onboarding, KYC and KYB verification, risk assessment, repayment automation and portfolio management. The company describes itself as a data analytics business creating tools that help lenders, merchants and individuals make informed loan, savings and expenditure decisions.

The product suite consists of Microlender, an end-to-end core banking and lending management system covering front- and back-office processes including origination, onboarding and on-chain credit; CashIQ, a cashflow underwriting and alternative credit scoring product that analyses mobile money and bank statements across more than 1,000 data points and also serves individuals and merchants with spending and business cashflow insights over WhatsApp; and Paza, a WhatsApp banking channel for fintechs and banks that lets end customers check balances, repay loans, transfer money and access banking services without a mobile app or USSD. Shared components shipped inside Microlender and CashIQ include Logiclabs no-code credit scorecards, the Cladfy Copilot AI assistant, KYC/KYB verification and eSignatures for loan agreement signing. Cladfy also offers loan book financing, arranging on-lending working capital from a network of financing partners with flexible loan periods and draw-down on disbursement.

According to a profile of co-founder and CEO Ebby Gatamu, the company was launched to address inefficiencies in Africa's microfinance sector, where many institutions still rely on manual processes that make it difficult for small businesses to secure loans.

Founding story

Ebby Gatamu, a Kenyan entrepreneur, launched Cladfy in 2022 to address inefficiencies in Africa's microfinance sector, where many microfinance institutions still rely on outdated manual processes that make credit access difficult for small businesses. Before founding the company she worked as an audit advisor at KPMG East Africa after earning a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing from the University of Nairobi, then served as a project manager at Kenya Airways and as Head of Marketing and E-Commerce at Vivo Activewear. She also co-founded Adshop Online, a digital marketing agency, and mentored through Wentors, a program supporting women in technology. She is co-founder and CEO of Cladfy Financial Services.

Business model

Cladfy licenses software to lending institutions, offering plans described as flexible and designed to scale with the customer's business, with continuous product updates included at no additional cost. Products are delivered across web, mobile and API. Alongside software, the company intermediates loan book financing, connecting lenders to capital from a network of financing partners for on-lending.

Software plans for lenders with tiered, scalable pricing and free updates; the company also facilitates loan book financing drawn down on disbursement from partner financiers.

Traction

The company reports platform metrics of more than 1,000 data signals used in underwriting and 70% faster lending decisions, and states that microfinance lenders across Africa use the platform. It is listed as a pre-seed company with 1-10 employees. Recognition includes being a MAS FinTech Hackcelerator 2024 finalist, selection among 12 startups for ARM Labs Lagos Techstars, an IFC Female Founder Fellowship, a VISA grant, selection for the Techstars Africa accelerator, inclusion in the UNDP Alt Finlab SDG Blockchain Accelerator first cohort, and a contribution to IFC's report "Cracking the Credit Code: Alternative Data and AI for Financial Inclusion."

Latest developments

A March 2025 profile of co-founder and CEO Ebby Gatamu reported that the company had secured an IFC Female Founder Fellowship, a VISA grant, selection for the Techstars Africa accelerator and finalist status at the Singapore FinTech Festival, and that Gatamu had been featured in the Yale Africa Startup Review and inducted into the Harambeans Entrepreneurial Alliance.