South Africa's JUMO backed by Fidelity, Visa, Kingsway in latest $120M round

JUMO, a South Africa- and London-based company that offers financial services to entrepreneurs and businesses in emerging markets has raised $120 million in a latest funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC.

Other investors that participated in the round were fintech giant Visa and London-based investment management firm Kingsway Capital. Per Times, this latest round has increases JUMO's total funding to $200 million and values the company at $400 million.

With previous funding from Leapfrog, Goldman Sachs, Finnfund, Proparco, Vostok Emerging Finance and Brook Asset Management, the JUMO platform has been used to make 120 million loans, totaling $3.5 billion, to more than 18 million people and small businesses in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire and Pakistan.

According to the current number of eMoney subscribers on its platform with access to loans JUMO has the opportunity to disburse $29 billion a year. 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. Its unique partnership business model has created a one-of-kind ecosystem that delivers value to all stakeholders, including customers and investors.

Reacting to the investment, Melissa McSherry, Global Head of Risk and Identity Services at Visa said "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".

“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.” - Melissa McSherry

With this fundraise, JUMO will scale its platform capacity, enabling the company to evolve its services and increase the number of financial products on offer to SMEs, as well as providing longer term lending options for merchants and bigger businesses. The funds will also support JUMO’s international expansion in new markets such as Nigeria and Cameroon.

Presently, the fintech only states Cape Town, Nairobi, Porto and London as its primary operational and tech hubs, but it's operational in some African countries — Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Ivory Coast — and South Asian country Pakistan.

JUMO's Founder and CEO, Andrew Watkins-Ball 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.”, he said.

Featured Image: JUMO's Founder and CEO, Andrew Watkins-Ball