Andrew Milne, the Kuunda co-founder who helped construct the expertise connecting banks to small companies and cellular cash customers throughout Africa, died on October 13, the corporate stated. He was 54.
Only days earlier, he celebrated finishing a secondary share sale for the enterprise he helped begin in 2018. It was a second to look forward for Kuunda, as its early buyers had been seeing a return and the corporate was making ready for an additional section of progress.
Now, his colleagues should carry these plans ahead with out him.
“Andy was an energetic and resilient leader,” Kuunda stated in an announcement. “He was much loved and deeply respected by everyone who worked alongside him.”
The firm didn’t disclose the reason for demise.
Milne based Kuunda in 2018 with Sam Brawerman and Morné van der Westhuizen. Their start line was a persistent money circulate downside that cellular cash brokers, small companies, and customers face regardless of being linked to digital fee networks. The workforce started designing its first liquidity product in Tanzania.
Kuunda constructed expertise that allowed banks and digital platforms to supply credit score inside providers individuals already used. The firm used transaction information to assist assess debtors and embed overdrafts and dealing capital into providers they already used.
It was work that would attain thousands and thousands of individuals with out making the corporate behind it a family title.
“We’re a media-shy company,” Milne told Techpoint Africa in a 2025 interview. Among Kuunda’s earliest companions was M-PESA Tanzania, the place it helped develop financing for cellular cash brokers earlier than extending its work into different lending merchandise.
Before Kuunda, Milne had labored in cellular well being and monetary providers. He was managing director of Virgin Lifecare and later chief government of Hello Doctor, which linked individuals to medical experience via their telephones. He subsequently served as chief working officer at cellular cash firm Zoona.
Those companies addressed completely different wants, however every concerned discovering methods to ship providers past the attain of typical branches and consulting rooms.
At Kuunda, that strategy grew right into a enterprise spanning African and Asian markets. In October 2025, the corporate announced a $7.5 million pre-Series A round, following its growth from Tanzania and Pakistan into Uganda, Malawi, Kenya, and Mozambique.
Its newest transaction, a $5 million secondary share sale introduced on October 13, allowed early buyers to promote shares to a gaggle led by E4E Africa. Existing backers Accion (*54*), Portugal Gateway Fund, and Seedstars Africa (*54*) elevated their holdings.
For his colleagues, that milestone is now sure up with their final reminiscences of him at work.
“Kuunda’s next chapter will now be written without him, and we will carry it forward in a way that honours what he started,” the corporate stated.
Milne is survived by his spouse, Alison, and their youngsters.
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