• Numida

  Participated · Seed · Apr 2021

  Numida is a Kampala, Uganda-based fintech that provides unsecured working capital loans to African micro- and small businesses using proprietary credit models and tech-enabled underwriting. Customers apply via the Numida app in minutes and can receive capital within a day instead of borrowing from informal lenders or family. Since 2021 the company has provided $20m in working capital to 27,000 businesses in East Africa. Numida intends to reinforce its Ugandan presence and launch in two new African markets while growing its active client base to 40,000 businesses. The company plans to double its team to about 200 people across credit operations, data, product development, and growth over the next 18 months. Led by CEO Mina Shahid, Numida will use the new funding to support these expansion and hiring plans. Numida began as a bookkeeping pilot in 2016 and pivoted in 2017 to focus on lending to semi-formal micro and small businesses in East Africa. The company uses a proprietary credit score and risk-based pricing to offer unsecured working-capital loans of up to $3,500 that can be disbursed in under two hours. Numida says it has provided more than $2 million in unsecured credit to roughly 3,000 businesses and currently disburses around $250,000 per month, reporting strong collections, repayment rates and client retention. Its underwriting model was built off 15,000 loans and the company iterated for months before scaling; since October 2019 it has grown lending volumes by 6x. Numida focuses on business fundamentals and cash-flow data rather than broad social or mobile data to underwrite borrowers. With the new funding it plans to expand aggressively in Uganda, pilot in a West African market (preferably Ghana), and introduce additional services such as payments, micro-insurance and deposits.

No current team members are available.