Ugandan fintech Numida secures $2.3-million 

Uganda-based fintech startup Numida has secured $2.3-million in a seed funding round led by MFS Africa with participation from DRK Foundation, Equilibria Capital, and Segal Family Foundation alongside angel investors.

Numida closes USD 2.3 million seed round led by MFS Africa

The fintech plans to utilise the funding to expand in Uganda, to pilot its product offering in a new market, and launch new products. Numida will tap into MFS Africa’s pan-African experience and utilise its infrastructure to launch new digital financial products for SMMEs.

Patrick Gutmann, a Managing Director of MFS Africa comments on the investment made into the innovative fintech.

“Through its recent acquisition of Beyonic, MFS Africa significantly expanded its business in the East African region and broadened its portfolio of services by adding a cutting-edge payment proposition targeting the SME segment. 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.” 

Numida

Founded in 2016 by Mina Shahid, Catherine Denis, and Ben Best, the fintech startup provides unsecured digital loans to African small businesses. 

According to reports, nearly 130-million micro and small businesses in Africa are in desperate need of modern digital banking services. Many of these businesses are financially excluded and unable to access credit and other financial services. This is where Numida steps in and has created a unique product that offers a much-needed financial service to small business owners.

The fintech has created East Africa’s first digital financial institution that targets semi-formal micro and small businesses. Operating via an easy-to-use app, business owners can access unsecured working capital loans of up to $ 3 500. Numida claims that small business owners can access this loan capital in under two hours via the app. 

Numida bases its loan to a client on a proprietary credit score. Each client is provided a loan with risk-based pricing based on their credit score.

The fintech claims to have provided over $2-million in unsecured credit to 3000 micro and small businesses in Uganda with outstanding collections, repayment rates, and client retention. 

Mina Shahid, CEO of Numida explains that the fintech plans to expand its product offering.

“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.” 

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Featured image: Numida team, (Supplied)