Ugandan fintech startup Numida has announced the close of its $2.3 million seed round. Pan-African payments company MFS Africa led the seed round. There was also participation from firms like DRK Foundation, Equilibria Capital, and Segal Family Foundation alongside angel investors.
Founded in 2015 by the trio in Mina Shahid, Catherine Denis, and Ben Best, the startup is one of East Africa’s pioneer digital fintechs. It targets semi-formal micro and small businesses.
Via a proprietary credit score, Numida offers risk-based pricing on an applicant’s first loan. After that, businesses can access unsecured working capital loans of up to $3,500 in less than two hours. To date, it has provided more than $2 million in unsecured credit to 3,000 micro and small businesses in Uganda.
Here, it disburses around $250,000 per month. This is with outstanding collections, repayment rates, and client retention
With this new financing, Numida plans to expand aggressively in Uganda and pilot in a new market, preferably in West Africa. Apparently, Ghana is the startup’s primary choice in the region. Like Uganda, the country has mobile money penetration, issues with traditional financial service providers, and businesses that make an enticing market.
Numida also plans to introduce additional financial services to its customers. These will include payments, micro-insurance, and deposits.
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