US fintech Kafene lands $18m in Series B funding

New York-based fintech Kafene has raised $18 million in a Series B funding round led by Third Prime and existing investors.

Kafene bags $18m Series B

Founded in 2019, Kafene is a digital platform used by merchants at the point-of-sale (POS) offering underserved consumers flexible purchase options through transparent lease-to-own (LTO) agreements, mainly serving the furniture, appliances and electronics industries.

Kafene makes use of 20,000+ data inputs, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to underwrite, approve using risk-based pricing, and enable payment in a near-instantaneous manner, the company says.

The start-up says it will use the new funding to increase its employee headcount and onboard more merchants onto its platform.

“We’re extremely excited to be doubling down on partnering with merchants to offer more flexible ownership options precisely when they’re needed most, and right at a time in which others have retreated and tightened their credit boxes,” says Neal Desai, CEO of Kafene.

The new funding round for Kafene follows a $75 million raise in equity and debt last year.