Mr Viral
Meshack Alloys, the former CEO of Sendy and co-founder of African fintech Boya, has launched TABB, a Silicon Valley–based credit-infrastructure startup aiming to modernize how banks deliver trade credit to small and mid-sized businesses.
TABB is building what it calls an “instant-acceptance trade credit network”, allowing banks to issue revolving credit lines to SMEs that can be used immediately across a wide supplier ecosystem. Businesses get up to 90-day terms for everyday purchases, while suppliers are paid instantly.
The platform is designed to be embedded directly into supplier checkout flows—bridging the gap between businesses needing working capital and banks seeking better visibility into real commercial activity.
“Trade credit has always powered the backbone of commerce, but it’s historically slow, manual, and opaque,” said a person familiar with the company’s pitch. “TABB is creating a real-time credit layer that banks can plug into and scale.”
A new infrastructure play for SME finance
The fintech acts as a programmable switchboard for trade credit to allow banks issue the credit line and get rich transaction data for underwriting while businesses unlock purchasing power with predictable repayment terms and suppliers eliminate in-house credit risk and receive automated settlement.
By ensuring funds flow directly to suppliers, TABB also reduces misuse and introduces new non-interest income opportunities through supplier-funded discount rates.
From logistics tech to financial infrastructure
Alloys, known for scaling Sendy into one of East Africa’s most prominent logistics-tech companies before its shut down, is now positioning TABB as an infrastructure-first fintech—building the pipes beneath the SME economy rather than another front-end app.
Silicon Valley’s appetite for B2B fintech rails has grown amid tightening credit markets and renewed focus on SME liquidity. TABB is entering the space as banks look for alternative underwriting models and as suppliers seek faster, more reliable settlement.
Early pilots suggest the firm is targeting construction and pharmaceuticals to retail, agribusiness, and logistics.
Betting on the future of supply-chain finance
TABB’s model digitizes a system long held together by paper invoices, supplier trust, and uneven credit terms. If successful, it could formalize millions of informal credit relationships across emerging markets while offering banks a scalable, data-rich path to SME growth.
The company aims to make trade credit instant, predictable, and universal—and supply chains become faster, healthier, and far more bankable.
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