Y Combinator-Backed Fintech Startup, Numida Raises $12.3M Led by Serena Ventures
Numida, a Ugandan fintech that provides credit to small businesses, has raised $12.3 million in new funding, led by Serena Williams’ fund Serena Ventures, with a $7.3 million portion of equity funding alongside Breega, 4Di Capital, Launch Africa, Soma Capital, Y Combinator, and MFS Africa, and the rest in the form of $5 million in debt from Lendable Asset Management.
The startup, founded in 2017 by three Canadian Y Combinator graduates, focuses its digital lending operations on small businesses as part of its objective to drive financial inclusion in emerging markets. Numida estimates that there are 20 million small and micro businesses that require working capital, a $5 billion opportunity.
“I’m most excited about continuing to build and provide financial products for these micro and small business owners who have been forgotten by the traditional financial services industry even though they are hardworking and have viable businesses. There are so many of these businesses across the continent, we really do believe that we’ve proven a model in Uganda that can be Pan-African and unlock the potential of these businesses to growth and achieve great things,” Numida CEO, Mina Shahid,
Numida’s platform offers loans ranging from $100 to $5,000 via its mobile app, using proprietary technology to make credit scoring decisions. The company claims to have advanced more than $20 million in funding since April 2021 and is expanding its staff to meet future growth. The company’s teams are divided between Kampala, Uganda, and a number of remote sites on the west coast of the United States.
The funds will be used to hire more people for Numida’s product development team in Uganda, as well as a CFO and potentially a head of credit risk.
