South African Fintech Raises $120 Million in Funding Round Led by Fidelity

A South Africa and London-based fintech startup, JUMO, recently revealed it has raised $120 million in a funding round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company.

According to a report by Techcrunch, financial services giant Visa and Kingsway Capital also participated in the funding round, which now sees JUMO valued at $400 million. This latest capital influx comes a year after the startup successfully raised $55 million in what the report calls a similar but unnamed funding round.

JUMO, which was founded in 2015 by founder and CEO Andrew Watkins-Ball, claims to use AI to power financial services, particularly lending in emerging markets where over 1.7 billion people do not have basic access to financial services.

So far, the fintech has reportedly served loans worth over $3.5 billion to more than 18 million customers across these markets, granting up to 120 million individual loans. Although JUMO claims to have the opportunity to disburse $29 billion a year, the addition of Nigeria and Cameroon to the list of countries where it offers its services will result in the value of loans disbursed rising to $40 billion.

In addition to expanding to Nigeria and Cameroon, JUMO suggested that it will use part of the $120 million raised to improve and increase the number of financial products it offers to small and medium-sized businesses. It also plans to provide longer-term lending options for merchants and larger businesses.

In her remarks following JUMO’s latest funding round, Visa’s global head of risk and identity services, Melissa McSherry, said:

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.

McSherry added that her company is excited about its investment in JUMO and is looking forward to accelerating the adoption of JUMO’s platform across markets and to delivering on Visa’s mission of helping individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive.

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