Imara Ventures - Building Businesses, Building Kenya.

Last month, I watched two entrepreneurs pitch to the same room of investors. Both had solid businesses generating over KSh 5 million in annual revenue. Both were seeking KSh 20 million in funding. One walked out with term sheets from three different investors. The other got polite rejections and vague promises to "stay in touch."

What made the difference? It wasn't the revenue numbers—those were almost identical. It was investment readiness.

In 2025, competition for capital is sharper than ever. Strong revenue is no longer enough—investors want proof of scalability, compliance, and ESG accountability. They want to see systems, not just sales.

Why Traditional Business Metrics Fall Short

Here's a story that'll hit close to home: Remember Samuel, who built a successful matatu booking app? By 2024, he was processing KSh 50 million in transactions monthly. Impressive, right? But when he pitched for Series A funding, investors had tough questions:

"How do you scale beyond Kenya's regulatory environment?"
"What's your customer acquisition cost versus lifetime value?"
"How do you compete with Uber when they decide to focus on your market?"
"Where's your ESG report?"

Samuel had great answers for traditional metrics but stumbled on investment readiness fundamentals. That's the gap we built the IIS framework to bridge.

The IIS Framework 2025: Your Investment GPS

Think of IIS as your GPS for investment readiness. Just like you wouldn't drive from Nairobi to Mombasa without navigation, you shouldn't approach investors without knowing exactly where you stand and what route to take.

The latest version of our 100-point IIS framework now covers six dimensions that investors actually care about in 2025:

1. Market Opportunity (20 points): Thinking Beyond Borders

Gone are the days when "serving the Kenyan market" was enough. Investors want to see regional—or better yet, global—potential.

Regional scalability across East Africa: Can your business model work in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda without major modifications?
AI and digital adoption within your sector: How are you leveraging or preparing for AI disruption?
Customer traction, demand signals, and TAM validation: Not just "people like our product" but "here's our path to capturing X% of a Y billion market"

"I used to think locally and hope globally. Now I think globally and execute locally. That mindset shift unlocked funding conversations I never imagined." - Mary Njeri, Founder, AgriConnect

2. Business Model & Operations (20 points): Building for Scale

Investors have seen too many businesses that work at small scale but break when they try to grow. They're looking for evidence of systematic thinking:

SaaS or subscription resilience: Predictable revenue models that survive economic downturns
Operational automation: Can your business run without you micromanaging every decision?
Tech infrastructure security: Data protection isn't optional anymore—it's table stakes

Pro tip: If you're still manually processing orders or tracking inventory in Excel, you're not investment-ready. Period.

3. Financial Performance (20 points): Numbers That Tell Stories

This isn't just about profitability—though that helps. It's about financial sophistication that gives investors confidence:

Cash flow + burn-rate management: How long can you survive without new funding? What triggers do you have in place?
Recurring revenue predictability: Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) growth rates, churn analysis, cohort retention
Investor-grade forecasting: Financial models that account for different scenarios, not just best-case assumptions

Real talk: If your financial projections show hockey-stick growth without explaining how you'll achieve it, investors will smell the optimism from across the room.

4. Management Team (15 points): The People Behind the Promise

Investors invest in people, not just products. They want to see:

Execution capacity: Track record of delivering on promises, even small ones
Advisory/board strength: Smart people who've agreed to bet their reputation on your success
Governance & accountability: Systems for making decisions, handling conflicts, and maintaining transparency

Here's a secret: Having respected advisors isn't just about credibility—it's about showing you're coachable and can attract talent.

5. ESG & Impact (15 points): Doing Well While Doing Good

This isn't corporate buzzword bingo. ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) factors are becoming investment requirements, not nice-to-haves:

Climate-conscious practices: How does your business reduce or offset environmental impact?
Social equity and inclusion: Diversity in hiring, fair wage policies, community impact
Transparent governance: Clear processes for decision-making, conflict resolution, and stakeholder communication

Story time: TechSavannah, a Mombasa-based startup, increased their valuation by 30% simply by documenting their existing ESG practices. They were already doing the work—they just weren't getting credit for it.

6. Digital Readiness (10 points): Future-Proofing Your Business

The businesses that survived COVID were the ones already thinking digitally. The ones thriving in 2025 are those embracing AI:

AI adoption: How are you using AI to improve efficiency, customer experience, or decision-making?
Cybersecurity maturity: Data protection, secure systems, incident response plans
Data-driven operations: Using analytics to make decisions, not just gut feelings

How IIS Changes the Game

Remember Samuel from earlier? After implementing IIS recommendations with support from our team at Imara Ventures, he raised KSh 35 million in Series A funding six months later. The difference? He went from selling a product to presenting a scalable, investment-ready business with clear operational systems.

With IIS, businesses get a clear playbook for prepping—no more guessing what investors want to see. Meanwhile, investors reduce blind risks by comparing opportunities using standardized criteria. Our approach combines this framework with hands-on operational support, ensuring companies don't just score well on paper but execute effectively in practice.

It's like having a common language between entrepreneurs and investors. Instead of talking past each other, they can focus on what actually matters: building sustainable, scalable businesses that create value for everyone involved.

"IIS didn't just help us get funding—it helped us build a better business. The framework forced us to think systematically about problems we didn't even know we had. But more importantly, Imara Ventures provided the operational support to actually fix those problems." - Peter Kamau, Co-founder, HealthTech Solutions

Your Next Steps

Investment readiness isn't about perfection—it's about preparation and having the right support system. At Imara Ventures, we start by helping businesses honestly assess where they stand on these six dimensions through our comprehensive evaluation process. Be brutal in your self-evaluation. Investors will be.

Then focus on the biggest gaps first with targeted operational support. If your financial modeling is weak, we provide the tools and expertise to fix that before worrying about ESG documentation. If you don't have proper governance, we help address that systematically before expanding to new markets.

The capital is out there. The question isn't whether funding exists—it's whether your business is ready to receive it, and whether you have partners who can help bridge that gap.