• Terrafy has digitized more than 20,000 rural land parcels in Kenya and says it has facilitated thousands of loans and insurance policies.
• The startup combines geospatial intelligence, land verification and monitoring tools to create digital land passports for financial institutions.
• The company aims to improve access to credit, insurance and carbon finance by transforming undocumented rural land into verifiable financial assets.

A Kenyan startup has developed a digital platform that aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises secure financing by turning rural land into bankable assets. Terrafy, a digital solution launched in Nairobi in 2026 by Victor Shikoli, seeks to transform Africa's rural land into financial assets that lenders and other institutions can recognize. The company develops a platform that combines field data, geospatial intelligence, verification tools and monitoring systems to generate land data that financial institutions can use for lending and risk assessment.

Terrafy built its platform to address a longstanding challenge across Africa. Large portions of rural land remain poorly documented or digitized, which limits smallholder farmers' access to credit, insurance and climate finance. Banks and other financial institutions often struggle to assess lending risks because they lack reliable information on rural land holdings.

Terrafy responds to this challenge by digitizing and certifying agricultural land parcels to create what it describes as "institutional-grade assets." The platform assigns each parcel a digital passport that includes verified land ownership, geographic and historical data. The company says it has already digitized more than 20,000 rural land parcels in Kenya and facilitated the issuance of thousands of loans and insurance policies.

The platform integrates several complementary modules. TerraVal uses artificial intelligence to estimate land values, while TerraCarbon connects farmers with carbon credit markets. Additional tools provide land monitoring through Internet of Things (IoT) devices and parametric insurance solutions that automatically trigger compensation when predefined conditions occur.

Unlike many agricultural fintech companies, Terrafy does not issue loans or sell insurance products directly. Instead, the startup positions itself as a trusted infrastructure provider for banks, insurers, agricultural cooperatives and climate finance organizations.

The company ultimately aims to establish rural land as a recognized financial asset capable of expanding financial inclusion for millions of small-scale producers across Africa.

This article was initially published in French by Adoni Conrad Quenum

Adapted in English by Ange J. A de Berry Quenum