RiseVest a Nigerian investment platform is in talks to acquire Hisa a Kenyan investment tech startup. Risevest provides users with access to global investments and Nigerian stocks.
Hisa, was founded in 2020 by Eric Asuma with an aim of enabling Kenyans to trade both local and global stocks. In 2022, Hisa raised US$ 250,000 in pre-seed funding from angel investors such as Faida Investment Bank, Estonia based VC Startup Wise Guys, Chipper Cash Founder Ham Serunjogi and Majid Moujaled. Reports indicate that the startup received a post money valuation of US$ 5 million.
Risevest was founded in 2020 by Eke Urum, supported by Ventures Platform and Techstars, and has since then grown to 600,000 users.
If the deal goes through, the acquisition will enable Risevest to expand to Kenya. Hisa is licenced by the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA) and the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). This will be the Nigerian startup’s second acquisition after it acquired digital trading startup Chaka in September 2023. Risevest has indicated that the two will run as separate units.
“We’re always discussing with other companies to see where potential alignments can be created, but for now, nothing is concrete with Hisa yet,” Eke Urum, Risevest’s founder and CEO