MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Numida of Uganda Raises $2.3m in Equity to Scale Digital Lending in Partnership with MFS Africa

Numida, a financial technology (fintech) firm in Uganda, recently raised USD 2.3 million in seed funding from a group of investors led by South Africa’s Mobile Financial Solutions (MFS) Africa, whose infrastructure Numida plans to use to expand outside of Uganda and launch unspecified additional digital financial products. The other investors were the US-based Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation, Bermuda-based Equilibria Capital, the US-based Segal Family Foundation, and several angel investors.

Headquartered in the city of Kampala, Numida was founded in 2016 to enable African “micro-and small businesses and the communities that they work in to reach their full potential.” Through an app, the firm provides digital working capital loans ranging from USD 100 to USD 5,000. The loans carry no collateral, and loan approvals are promised within two hours. As of 2021, Numida has lent a total of USD 2 million to 3,000 businesses in Uganda. Additional financial data on the firm are not available.

MFS Africa works with a range of financial services providers to connect 200 million digital wallets, enabling “accessible, affordable, inclusive alternatives for remittance/money transfers, microlending, microinsurance, micro-savings, and payments.”

By Aakansha Shenoy, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Ventureburn article
https://ventureburn.com/2021/04/ugandan-fintech-numida-secures-2-3-million

Numida homepage
https://numida.com/

MFS Africa homepage
https://mfsafrica.com/

DRK Foundation homepage
https://www.drkfoundation.org/

Equilibria Capital homepage
http://www.equilibriacapital.com/

Segal Family Foundation homepage
https://www.segalfamilyfoundation.org/

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