Umba is a credit-led digital bank operating out of Lagos, Nigeria that offers no-fee current accounts, interbank transfers, peer-to-peer payments, bill payments and consumer loans. The company uses proprietary customer data and automated underwriting models retrained monthly to deliver credit quickly. Umba generates most of its revenue from charging consumers a monthly interest of 10% and says it has doubled revenues every three months since launching 18 months ago, with over 1 million Google Play installs. The founders, Tiernan Kennedy and Barry O’Mahony, started the company in 2018 and have built core banking systems in-house to support multi-currency and multi-country expansion. Umba plans to expand into Egypt, Ghana and Kenya and will roll out debit cards, savings accounts and stock trading over the next 18 months while hiring regional staff to support growth. Umba operates a mobile-first digital bank currently available in Kenya and Nigeria, offering free checking accounts, instant peer-to-peer transfers, lending, deposits, BillPay and cash back. The company built a platform designed to serve multiple markets, currencies and payment infrastructures to ease expansion across African markets. In Nigeria the product is deeply integrated with banks and debit cards, while in Kenya and East Africa it ties into dominant mobile‑money systems. Umba positions itself as a lower‑cost alternative to legacy African banks and competes with players such as Kudao, Carbon and Eversend as well as informal “chip or cash” methods. The company has stated plans to expand across Africa and recently raised external seed capital to support that growth.

Total raised

$17M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Apr 2022