Financing for African Companies

Cauris provides debt financing to market-leading, socially impactful companies extending financial access across the continent

Borrowers Supported
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Small Businesses Supported
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Active Countries
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INVESTMENTS

We provide secured debt facilities for a variety of business models, including the following:

Mobility Financing

Because productive assets enable entrepreneurs and small businesses to flourish and grow

SME Financing

Because small businesses are the foundation of every economy

Trade Financing

Because trade is the lifeblood of economic activity and growth

Our Portfolio Companies

We leverage strong asset-level underwriting, structural protections, and advanced analytics to secure debt investments in Fintech partners.

Who We Are

Cauris is an impact investor that delivers growth capital to best-in-class African companies. We aim to facilitate access to quality credit for 10 million small businesses and entrepreneurs, accelerating the rise of Africa’s middle class, enabling continent-wide economic growth and supporting efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Cauris’s debt financing enables its partners to scale quality credit to financially underserved small businesses and entrepreneurs that are the economic engines of every economy. Leveraging cutting-edge technology and highly structured underwriting, Cauris delivers both consistent financial returns and compelling social impact.

Our Team

We are a cross-functional team with deep debt investment and Africa experience. We have over 50 years of cumulative experience investing in and working at emerging market technology companies. Few investment teams bring our breadth of finance acumen, Africa experience, market insights, and deep networks.

Alexandre Liege
Chief Executive Officer
  • Head of product and credit at Juvo (consumer lending)
  • Product roles at Mastercard, YellowPepper (sold to Visa), MTN Mobile Money
  • MBA from Columbia Business School; Undergraduate degree from ESCE, a business school in Paris, France
Azer Songnaba, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
  • $10B+ of structured finance transactions at Goldman Sachs
  • Credit risk and underwriting of Fintechs and banks at Mastercard
  • MBA from Columbia Business School; Masters of Science in Finance from the University of Florida; Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
Rosebella Okoth
Managing Director, Risk
  • 16 years of risk management experience at Deloitte & Davella
  • Vast experience in Africa, the UK and the UAE
  • MBA from Kenyatta University; Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law; undergraduate degree from the University of Nairobi; Certified Public Accountant
Alexander Raia
Managing Director, Impact
  • Fintech and financial inclusion strategy at Mastercard
  • $3B+ M&A at Goldman Sachs and financial inclusion adjunct at NYU
  • MBA from the Wharton School; undergraduate degree in Economics from Vassar College
Sylvestre Coulibaly
Director, Investments & Operations
  • Equity derivatives sales for Citi in Hong Kong and FX derivatives sales at UBS
  • Masters degree in Financial Markets from Université Paris Dauphine; undergraduate degree in Applied Mathematics from Université Paris Diderot
Kevin Karanja
Director, Portfolio Monitoring
  • 12 years of finance and auditing experience at Deloitte & Davella
  • Track record of audit and finance experience throughout Africa
  • Undergraduate degree in Economics from Nairobi University; member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Kenya
Charles Packer
Chief Technology Officer
  • Head of engineering at Juvo and Gaia
  • Decades of experience leading engineering teams
  • Undergraduate degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)

Borrower Benefits

Fast execution

To provide our partners with growth capital when they need it most

Flexible capital

To enable our partners to scale
responsibly

True partnership

To support our partners as
they grow

Technology

Cauris’s proprietary “DeepDive” technology provides visibility into the operations and loan portfolios of emerging market companies, enabling smarter credit decisions and more effective portfolio monitoring.

Local Integrations

Provides near real-time insight into portfolio company performance and financial health via connections with our partners and their financial institutions

Loan Monitoring

Provides visibility into partners’ underlying loan books to monitor performance metrics and
covenant compliance

Advanced Analytics

Provides performance, risk and liquidity
analysis to enable data-driven
credit decisions

IMPACT

Cauris is a member of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). Our membership signifies a commitment to deepening our engagement in the impact investing industry.

Our investments are structured to support the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).