Kenyan startup Terrafy has launched a platform it says is building the trust infrastructure that enables rural finance to reach millions of underserved landholders across Africa.
Founded this year and based in Nairobi, Terrafy is building parcel-level land intelligence infrastructure for Africa. The platform combines field data, geospatial intelligence, verification workflows, and monitoring systems to create institution-ready land records, turning informal land into bankable, monitorable, monetisable assets.
“We digitise, verify, and monitor rural land parcels, transforming fragmented land information into trusted, finance-ready records that institutions can confidently use to support lending, insurance, climate finance, and other financial services,” said Terrafy founder and CEO Victor Shikoli. “Rather than providing loans or insurance directly, Terrafy enables the institutions that do. Our role is to create the trusted foundation that allows financial products to reach rural communities more efficiently and with lower risk.”
Africa’s rural economy continues to face a trust challenge, with financial institutions often struggling to confidently serve rural landholders because reliable parcel-level information is incomplete, fragmented, or unavailable.While many companies focus on agricultural analytics, insurance products, lending platforms, or satellite insights, Terrafy focuses on the foundational layer beneath those services – trusted land intelligence.
The startup, which is self-funded but preparing for a seed round, was recently selected as a finalist in the MassChallenge Switzerland 2026 Accelerator, and also took part in the AFRISE Challenge, a pan-African venture support programme spanning eight African countries.
“These programmes have provided access to investors, corporate partners, and ecosystem leaders, helping accelerate conversations with institutions across insurance, agriculture, and financial services,” Shikoli said.
“The strongest validation has come from both field adoption and institutional interest,” Shikoli said. “Operationally, Terrafy has digitised more than 20,000 rural parcels, with over 2,000 progressing through deeper verification processes across Kenya.”At the same time, engagement with insurers, financial institutions, agricultural organisations, and ecosystem partners has increased significantly as stakeholders look for better ways to serve rural markets.
“The response has reinforced our belief that trusted land infrastructure is becoming an essential component of rural financial inclusion,” said Shikoli.
Terrafy, which generates revenue from parcel verification, land monitoring, and enterprise partnerships with institutions that depend on trusted land intelligence, is for now strongly focused on its primary market Kenya.
“Our strategy is to deepen operational density and institutional adoption locally before expanding regionally,” Shikoli said.“Over time, we see opportunities across East, Southern, and West Africa, where similar challenges around land visibility, financial inclusion, and rural asset verification exist.”