London-based fintech company, JUMO has raised $120 million funding from new and existing investors – led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC, and represents their first investment in emerging markets fintech. With the latest funding round, the total investment secured by JUMO accounts for $200m.
The CEO and founder, Andrew Watkins-Ball, expressed his excitement, saying,
“It’s exciting to be part of the wave of US capital being invested in payments and fintech on the continent – there are some great businesses being built and we are proud to play a role supporting capital providers to reach customers with great products. We are really grateful for the vote of confidence from our new investors and will continue to work hard to improve our products for our partners and customers.”
JUMO has an intelligent platform that enables banks to reach millions of new customers with credit and savings products and has been a market-leading Banking as a Service platform that uses AI to power financial services in emerging markets and also offers savings and credit products to entrepreneurs in emerging markets, as well as financial services infrastructure to partners such as mobile fintech platforms, banks and eMoney operators – which has allowed JUMO rapid scalability and exceptional segment reach.
“JUMO’s lending platform is highly attractive in its ability to scale across markets and drive financial inclusion by creating access to credit for consumers and small businesses,” says Melissa McSherry, Global Head of Risk and Identity Services at Visa. “We are excited about our investment in JUMO and are looking forward to accelerating adoption of JUMO’s platform across markets and delivering on Visa’s mission of helping Individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive.”
Plans for Funds
The funds raised is to be used to support the scaling of JUMO’s platform’s capacity, to enable the company to evolve its services and increase the number of financial products on offer to SMEs, and provide long-term lending options for merchants and bigger businesses. Also, the funds will support JUMO’s international expansion in new markets such as Nigeria and Cameroon. JUMO is set to grow its annual lending volume to $40 billion in 2022 with its launch in the new markets.
The company is focused on making it easier for capital providers to be able to reach new customers at affordable prices whilst making predictable returns. The platform itself provides a full range of infrastructure and services that banks need in order to operate, from core banking to underwriting, KYC (know your customer) and fraud detection services.
JUMO platform has been used to make 120 million loans, totalling $3.5 billion, to more than 18 million people and small businesses in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire and Pakistan.
In just over five years of operation, JUMO has enabled the disbursement of more than US$3.5 billion in loans and reached over 18 million customers and small businesses.