South African digital lending infrastructure company Kuunda has completed a $ 5 million (about R85 million) secondary share sale, led by investment firm E4E Africa. Some of Kuunda's earliest investors sold shares, while existing backers Accion Ventures, Portugal Gateway Fund and Seedstars Africa Ventures increased their stakes.

"This is an important milestone for Kuunda and our investors," said chief executive Andrew Milne.

A secondary sale is different from a normal funding round. In a funding round, a company issues new shares and the money goes into the business. In a secondary, existing shareholders sell shares they already own to other investors, so the money goes to the sellers, not to Kuunda. The point is to give early backers a return without waiting for a stock market listing or a sale of the whole company, and to bring in a larger long-term shareholder, in this case E4E Africa.

Founded in 2018, Kuunda provides the technology behind small loans offered by banks, mobile money operators and other financial services providers, so a lender can offer credit to its own customers without building the system itself. The company says its infrastructure has now handled more than 870 million loans, delivering over $ 4.4 billion in credit, roughly R74 billion, to 14.6 million agents, merchants and consumers across Africa. Milne describes the business as profitable.

This is its second secondary sale. The first came alongside its $7.5-million pre-Series A round in October 2025, about R127 million, which was oversubscribed after the company set out to raise $3 million and included $2.2 million of shares sold by early investors. That round also brought in 4Di Capital and Nedbank.

Disrupt Africa reported the deal and quoted E4E Africa managing partner Bas Hochstenbach saying Kuunda uses technology, distribution and banking partnerships to deliver financial services where traditional institutions cannot reach. Condia confirmed with Milne that this is the company's second secondary sale since launching. Business Tech Africa notes the sale gives investors a return before any potential listing or acquisition, while Kuunda continues its expansion.

The scarcest thing in African venture capital is not funding but exits, the moment when early investors actually get money back. Listings are rare and acquisitions take years, so investors who backed a company in 2018 can wait a decade for a return. Secondaries offer a middle path, and Kuunda has now done two.

That matters for founders. Early investors who can sell part of their stake are less likely to push for a premature sale of the whole company, and a clean, willing shareholder base makes later fundraising easier. It fits what we found when we looked at what South African venture exits actually return: partial exits are becoming a normal way for local investors to realise value while the business keeps growing.

One note on the coverage: some reports describe the $5-million as funding Kuunda's expansion into new markets. In a secondary sale the money goes to the selling shareholders, not the company, so that is not what this deal pays for. Kuunda's lending model sits in the same space as the fight for informal traders and small merchants that Pepkor, Shoprite and the banks are chasing.

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