JUMO, the South African fintech serving emerging market entrepreneurs has raised $120 million to fuel its expansion into new markets such as Nigeria and Cameroon, scale its platform capacity, increase its financial product portfolio, as well as provide longer term lending options for merchants and bigger businesses.
The latest funding round brings JUMO’s total funding raised to date to $200 million and was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC, and represents their first investment in emerging markets fintech. Prior investment rounds have included Leapfrog, Goldman Sachs, Finnfund, Proparco, Vostok Emerging Finance and Brook Asset Management.
In a statement, Andrew Watkins-Ball, JUMO Founder and CEO, said: “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.”
Based in South Africa and London, the 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. JUMO’s platform enables banks to reach millions of new customers with credit and savings products and makes 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’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,” said 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.”
JUMO’s proven returns to bank partners have become the market benchmark for predictable profitability at the same time as ensuring high levels of control and transparency. In the last two years, bank capital deployed/ AUM on the platform has gone up 160%. This result is proof of great confidence and demand from banks.
Integrating with eMoney operators has allowed JUMO rapid scalability and exceptional segment reach. This is a model the company can replicate with payments providers anywhere in the world. JUMO’s core customer base of SMEs and micro SMEs are the backbone of their economies and access to credit at low prices allows them to invest in their businesses and their communities. JUMO’s unique partnership business model has created a one-of-kind ecosystem that delivers value to all stakeholders, including customers and investors.
JUMO has the opportunity to disburse $29 billion a year, according to the current number of eMoney subscribers on its platform with access to loans. In 2022, This is set to grow to an annual lending volume of $40 billion, following market launches in Cameroon and Nigeria.