Numida, and Ugandan Fintech start-up that provides unsecured digital loans to small businesses in African, has closed a seed funding round of US$2.3 million.
The seed round was led by pan-African payment firm – MFS Africa. Other participants in the fundraising round include DRK Foundation, Equilibria Capital, Segal Family Foundation, and a host of angel investors.
With the success of this funding round, Numida joins the list of fintech start-ups in African that have been bringing investment into the continent, and creating a path to solving finance-related problems on the continent.
Numida, which was founded in 2017 by Mina Shahid, Catherine Denis and Ben Best, offers business owners access to unsecured working capital loans of up to US$3,500 in less than two hours. The start-up claims it has been granting loans up to the rate of $250,000 per month.
As a testament to the workings, Numida has provided more than US$2 million in unsecured credit to 3,000 micro and small businesses in Uganda with outstanding collections, repayment rates, and client retention.
With the newly raised seed funding, the start-up is set to push for its expansion across Uganda, as well as to explore new markets, preferably, Ghana, which has similar mobile money penetration as Uganda; as well as other African countries.
Commenting on the funding round, CEO of Numida, Mina Shahid, explained that:
“With all the data that we’re collecting from traditionally thin-file businesses, we are well-positioned to provide additional financial services through the Numida app such as payments, micro-insurance, and deposits in the future.”
Reacting to the new relationship built with Numida, MFS, which recently acquired Ugandan Fintech start-up, Beyonic, stated through its Managing Director, Patrick Gutmann, that:
“MFS Africa is committed to supporting this critical segment, and offering a lending solution is a natural extension of our services, and by partnering with Numida, this can become a reality. Numida has been a long-standing partner of MFS Africa, and we have followed its progress with much excitement. We see tremendous opportunity for Numida and MFS Africa to work together to grow Numida’s existing loan book in Uganda, but also see an opportunity for the solution to be extended across the MFS Africa footprint.”