Village Capital Invests $450k in Trade Lenda and AirSmat

In Short

Village Capital has made its first investments in Nigeria.

It put a combined $450,000 into two Nigerian startups, Trade Lenda and AirSmat.

The cheques came from its $4 million Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility.

What Happened

Village Capital invested a combined $450,000 in Trade Lenda and AirSmat to expand its Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility portfolio into Nigeria. The facility previously made its first investments in Ghana.

Trade Lenda provides financing and embedded financial services to small businesses and farmers. Embedded finance means financial products, like loans or payments, are built inside another product or workflow, similar to “pay later” inside a checkout. Trade Lenda also offers Sharia-compliant financing, which follows Islamic finance rules, for example avoiding interest.

The company says it has supported more than 260,000 small businesses and farmers across five of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. It adds that 66% of its customers are women.

Trade Lenda’s co-founder and CEO, Adeshina Adewumi, said the investment helped the startup accelerate growth, obtain a higher operating licence, and secure an additional $2 million in lower-cost local debt facilities. Debt facilities are loans or credit lines a company can draw from, like a larger overdraft for a business.

AirSmat, a climate-tech company, converts agricultural waste into biochar-based fertiliser. Biochar is a carbon-rich material that can improve soil health, similar to adding a long-lasting soil conditioner. AirSmat said it will use the investment to complete and commission a commercial production facility, increase output, and scale operations. Its individual allocation from the $450,000 was not disclosed.

Village Capital said Africa Fintech Foundry, one of its Nigerian ecosystem partners, sourced both investments.

Why It Matters

For Nigerian SMEs, access to appropriately priced local capital remains a major constraint, especially for businesses outside formal credit channels or without traditional collateral. If Trade Lenda’s added debt capacity lowers its funding costs, it could translate into more affordable lending for small businesses and farmers.

For climate resilience, AirSmat’s factory build signals that more early-stage capital is flowing to practical climate solutions tied to agriculture. If its biochar model scales, it could also create carbon-market income opportunities for farmers, which is revenue linked to verified emissions reductions.

The two deals bring the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility portfolio to seven companies across Ghana and Nigeria, as Village Capital increases its footprint in West Africa’s early-stage funding pipeline.