South African fintech start-up Omnisient has received a $7.5 million investment to support Omnisient’s plans to take its technology to markets in Africa, the UK, the USA and the Middle East.
The investment was from Arise, a company that invests in African financial service providers and fintechs that advance financial inclusion.
“Our mission is to create the world’s largest repository of alternative consumer data to grow financial inclusion,” said Jon Jacobson, co-founder of Omnisient. “The investment from Arise will enable us to expand and partner with larger data providers. This will allow banks and insurers to extend financial services to millions more people globally, driving financial inclusion on an unprecedented scale.”
Founded in December 2019, Omnisient allows retailers, financial services and healthcare firms to collaborate on consumer intelligence. Omnisient’s platform protects 160 million consumer profiles and is helping millions of underserved individuals to qualify for loans, insurance and other financial services by using consumer shopping behaviour to aid credit risk assessments.
In 2021, South Africa’s Omnisient secured US$1.4 million in funding for global expansion. The investment was used to expand the Omnisient team, accelerate product development and drive international expansion, initially in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and the Middle East. The $1.4 million round took the total investment to US$2.2 million so far.
In 2023, TechCrunch, American global online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies selected Omnisient as one of 200 early-stage tech start-ups that are most likely to have a positive impact on the world and in the same year, the firm was selected among hundreds of candidates as one of the World Economic Forum’s “Technology Pioneers” to help banks to access new sources of consumer data for determining credit worthiness of individuals with no credit history in a move expected to revolutionize the way organizations discover and monetize data for financial inclusion.
The World Bank estimates that 1.7 billion people are excluded from formal financial services, limiting their access to housing, healthcare, education, and business capital.
“This investment aligns with our vision of using cutting edge fintechs to drive growth in Africa’s financial services sector,” said Gavin Tipper, CEO of Arise. “Omnisient’s technology will assist banks and data providers in identifying new customers, unlocking new revenue streams and will foster financial inclusion,” he added.
This funding round (Series A) is still open. Omnisient is assessing strategic partners for the US market and the retail media space.
