Kenya's M-KOPA bought Finnish phone-locking firm KilpiTek for US$8m in March, tech-ish reports

M-KOPA Holdings Limited bought the Finnish software company KilpiTek Oy on 26 March 2026 for US$8 million, the technology site tech-ish reported on 7 October. tech-ish said the figures come from the group's 2025 accounts, which were filed at Companies House in the UK on 5 October.

Companies House lists a filing of that date as “Group of companies' accounts made up to 31 December 2025”. M-KOPA sells smartphones and electric motorbikes on credit in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, tech-ish reported.

KilpiTek makes device-locking software, the tool that restricts a financed handset when a customer falls behind on payments. tech-ish said M-KOPA's privacy notice describes a daily check: if the account has enough credit, the phone keeps working for another day; if no payment has come in, use expires under the terms of the customer's agreement.

According to tech-ish, M-KOPA took control of KilpiTek on 26 March by buying 100% of its voting equity. Of the US$8 million, US$2,666,702 was paid in cash. tech-ish said the other US$5,333,298 is described in the accounts as “Equity instrument, deferred consideration and/or remuneration”, and that the equity part is a share swap in which KilpiTek's owners took M-KOPA shares. tech-ish put the total at about KSh 1.04 billion.

tech-ish said M-KOPA bought KilpiTek mainly to bring device locking in-house, and that the deal supports its phone sourcing strategy.

Africa Investor Review reported on 7 October that KilpiTek is based in Tampere, Finland. It wrote that M-KOPA had relied on third-party security frameworks and manufacturer integrations, including tools provided by Samsung and HMD, and that owning KilpiTek's software would allow “uniform security protocols across its entire hardware supply chain”.

The deal closed after the end of the accounting year. tech-ish and the start-up data platform Dealroom both reported that M-KOPA treats it as a non-adjusting subsequent event, which is disclosed in the accounts without changing the 2025 figures.