London-based JUMO is a fintech company that builds next-generation financial services for emerging market entrepreneurs. Today, the company has announced a successful raise of $120 million (nearly £89 million) funding from new and existing investors.
International expansion plans
The investment round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC, and represents their first investment in emerging markets fintech. JUMO will use the fresh funds to support the scaling of its platform’s capacity, enabling the company to evolve its services and increase the number of financial products on offer to SMEs, and provide long-term lending options for merchants and bigger businesses. Also, the funds will support JUMO’s international expansion in new markets such as Nigeria and Cameroon. JUMO is set to grow its annual lending volume to $40 billion in 2022 with its launch in the new markets.
With the latest funding round, the total investment secured by JUMO accounts for $200 million (nearly £150 million). Prior investment rounds included Leapfrog, Goldman Sachs, Finnfund, Proparco, Vostok Emerging Finance and Brook Asset Management.
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.”
“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.”
Uses AI to power financial services
JUMO was founded in 2015 by Andrew Watkins-Ball. It is a market-leading Banking as a Service (BaaS) platform that uses AI to power financial services in emerging markets. It offers savings and credit products to entrepreneurs in emerging markets, as well as financial services infrastructure to partners such as eMoney operators, mobile fintech platforms and banks.
JUMO is focused on making 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.
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. To date, 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.
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