Kuda is a mobile-first challenger bank building personalised, often lower-cost banking services on API-based infrastructure, operating from London with primary operations in Nigeria. The company holds its own banking license, which it says enables faster product development and greater credibility. Kuda has seen rapid user growth, reaching 1.4 million registered users (up from 650,000 in March). Its product suite is expanding beyond basic accounts: Kuda launched a pre-qualified overdraft product that in Q2 qualified over 200,000 users and disbursed $20 million in credit with minimal defaults on 30-day repayments. The startup plans to use new funding to invest in expansion across additional African markets and to build more services for Nigerian customers. Leadership includes co-founders CEO Babs Ogundeyi and CTO Musty Mustapha. Kuda is a mobile-first challenger bank offering consumer banking services in Nigeria, including saving, spending, debit cards (in partnership with Visa and Mastercard), bill payments and recently introduced overdrafts. The company holds a microfinance banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria, allowing it to issue cards, manage payments and build much of its stack in-house while also partnering with incumbent banks (Zenith Bank, GT and Access Bank) for cash services. Kuda has grown quickly: it registered roughly 300,000 customers at the seed round and now reports about 650,000 customers, and its monthly transaction volume rose from about $500 million in November to $2.2 billion in February. Management plans to use the new funding to expand credit offerings, build services for businesses, add integrations, fast-track on-the-ground operational teams and enter additional markets — first targeting Nigerians abroad (notably the U.K.) and then other African countries. The company is co-headquartered in London and Lagos and sees remittances, salary-account integrations and expanded lending as adjacent opportunities to deepen customer relationships. Kuda is a mobile-first challenger bank that offers a consumer banking app (with a pared-down feature-phone version) and will soon launch a formal small-business product. Since launching in September 2019 the company has acquired roughly 300,000 customers and processes over $500 million in transactions per month. Kuda holds a microfinance banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria, issues debit cards via Visa and Mastercard, and owns its core banking stack rather than outsourcing deposit management. It maintains partnerships with incumbent banks — including Zenith Bank, Guaranteed Trust and Access Bank — for physical deposits and withdrawals where needed. Accounts are free; Kuda monetizes through airtime top-ups, bill payments, transaction fees, managing float (investing in treasury bills and mutual funds), and plans to expand into lending once it secures full licenses in target regions. The company was co-founded by CEO Babs Ogundeyi and CTO Musty Mustapha and is positioning itself to serve the African diaspora as well as users on the continent. Kuda is a digital-only retail bank that launched a beta mobile finance platform offering no-fee checking accounts and a free debit card. The company built a full-stack banking system from scratch, can take deposits and connect directly to Nigeria’s Central Switch. Kuda holds a banking (microfinance) license from the Central Bank of Nigeria, which the founder says distinguishes it from wallet apps and mobile offerings piggybacking on existing banks. Product plans include consumer savings and P2P payments, and customers can open accounts and complete KYC in the app within five minutes. Kuda operates developer teams in Lagos and Cape Town and has correspondent relationships with GTBank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank to enable cash-in and withdrawals. The startup intends to go from beta to live launch in Nigeria by Q4 2019 and to expand into a Pan‑African digital-only bank.

Total raised

$92M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Aug 2021