Kenya-based community-led marketplace, Pariti has secured $2.85 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by US-based firm, Harlem Capital and this will be the company's first transaction with an African startup for its diversity-focused investment scheme.

Other VC firms that followed in the round include Better Ventures, Accelerated Ventures, Diverse Angels, AVG Basecamp, and New General Market Partners.

Pariti was founded in 2019 by Yacob Berhane and Wossen Ayele as a platform for developing the technology economy for upcoming ecosystems in the marketplace. The startup links new market creators to resources, talent, and money to scale their startups.

According to the CEO, Berhane, the company has secured 795 per cent in the last year. He also attributes this success to the pandemic and how the African digital ecosystem reached a turning point, minting half a dozen unicorns in the pandemic.

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Speaking about the company's solution, Berhane discloses; “So we examined at the companies who were able to raise money after submitting the Pariti pitch assessment, and we found that companies with a Pariti score of 70 or higher have a 50% chance of linking effectively with investors. However, organizations with a score of 78 or higher have an 8x chance of raising funding, which is quite significant.”

The Kenyan marketplace has supported five startups getting admission into the Y Combinator program.